RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Contra Costa County >> Rock City >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rock City, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rock City 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 Rock City:
    • 37.849648, -121.935514
    • 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 Rock City
  • 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 Contra Costa County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Contra Costa County
    • Since Rock City is near Alameda County and also Solano County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alameda County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Solano 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 Rock City

Communities Also Named Rock City ...

We found ten communities that are also named Rock City.

Within California, the name Rock City is unique.

Beyond California, we know of ten communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jackson County
      • This Rock City is located in Jackson County and lies 2,005 miles [3,226.7 km]<1> to the east of the Rock City that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Rock City.
      • Marion County
      • This Rock City is located in Marion County and lies 1,921 miles [3,091.5 km] to the east of the Rock City that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Rock City.
    • Georgia
      • Walker County
      • This Rock City is located in Walker County and lies 2,029 miles [3,265.4 km]<1> to the east of the Rock City that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Walker County community of Rock City.
    • Illinois
      • Stephenson County
      • This Rock City is located in Stephenson County and lies 1,731 miles [2,785.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Rock City that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stephenson County community of Rock City.
    • Kansas
      • Ottawa County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Rock City [Ottawa County].
    • New York
      • Cattaraugus County
      • This Rock City is located in Cattaraugus County and lies 2,294 miles [3,691.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Rock City that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cattaraugus County community of Rock City.
      • Columbia County
      • This Rock City is located in Columbia County and lies 2,537 miles [4,082.9 km] to the east northeast of the Rock City that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Columbia County community of Rock City.
      • Dutchess County
      • This Rock City is located in Dutchess County and lies 2,530 miles [4,071.6 km] to the east northeast of the Rock City that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dutchess County community of Rock City.
    • Tennessee
      • Smith County
      • This Rock City is located in Smith County and lies 1,968 miles [3,167.2 km]<1> to the east of the Rock City that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Smith County community of Rock City.
      • Sullivan County
      • This Rock City is located in Sullivan County and lies 2,157 miles [3,471.4 km] to the east of the Rock City that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sullivan County community of Rock City.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rock City ...

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.

  • Blackhawk
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Blackhawk is located in Contra Costa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackhawk
  • Danville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Danville is located in Contra Costa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 44,883 people
    • Former name for Danville:
    • Inmanville
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Danville <3>
  • Diablo
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Dublin
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Four Corners
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Four Corners is located in Contra Costa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
  • Marsh Creek Springs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Marsh Creek Springs is located in Contra Costa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marsh Creek Springs
  • Pleasant Hill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Sparkle
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Sparkle is located in Contra Costa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparkle
  • Walnut Creek
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Walnut Heights
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Walnut Heights is located in Contra Costa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Heights

How Far From Rock City to ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Rock City and extending to:

  • Martinez, which is the Seat of Contra Costa County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Rock City to Martinez, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 56 miles [90.1 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,406 miles [3,872.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 94 days and walking would take 137 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,401 miles [11,910.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,168 miles [13,145.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,219 miles [10,008.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Rock City) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Rock City could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Rock City 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 Rock City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.8496, Longitude: -121.9355       In this case, the coordinates for Rock City have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.803 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.677 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.868 degrees.