RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Lauderdale County >> North Carolina >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in North Carolina, we use the following websites to find information relevant to North Carolina and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for North Carolina:
    • 34.925640, -87.493635
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on North Carolina
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Lauderdale County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lauderdale County
    • Since North Carolina is near Lawrence County and also Colbert County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Colbert County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for North Carolina

Curious and Interesting Names Near North Carolina ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Aqua Vista
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Aqua Vista is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aqua Vista
  • Atlas ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Atlas is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlas
  • Big Oak
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Big Oak is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Oak
  • Center Star
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Center Star is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Star
  • Emerald Shores
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Emerald Shores is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emerald Shores
  • Falconhead
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Falconhead is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falconhead
  • Green Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Green Hill is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Hill
  • Hideaway Hills
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Hideaway Hills is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hideaway Hills
  • Kingman ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Kingman is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingman
  • Kingtown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Kingtown is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingtown
  • Lake Coves
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Lake Coves is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Coves
  • Lakeview
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Lakeview is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Lock Six
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Lock Six is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lock Six
    • Mitchelltown
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Mitchelltown is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mitchelltown
    • Palestine ‑ Historic
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Palestine is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palestine
    • Posey ‑ Historic
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Posey is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Posey
    • Rascal Town
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Rascal Town is located in Lawrence County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rascal Town
    • Slabtown ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Slabtown is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slabtown
    • Sweet Gum
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Sweet Gum is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Gum
    • Wolf Creek
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Wolf Creek is located in Lawrence County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf Creek

How Far From North Carolina to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as North Carolina to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<1> community of North Carolina once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in North Carolina and extending to:

  • Florence, which is the Seat of Lauderdale County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from North Carolina to Florence, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 188 miles [302.6 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 638 miles [1,026.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,512 miles [10,480 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,228 miles [11,632.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,104 miles [8,214.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about North Carolina, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- North Carolina) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<4>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from North Carolina to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in North Carolina. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.9256, Longitude: -87.4936       In this case, the coordinates for North Carolina have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.179 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.062 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.276 degrees.