RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Georgia >> Union County >> Canal Lake >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Canal Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Canal Lake 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 Canal Lake:
    • 34.895364, -83.997965
    • 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 Canal Lake
  • 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 Union County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Union County
    • Since Canal Lake is near Towns County and also Clay County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Towns County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clay 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 Canal Lake

Curious and Interesting Names Near Canal Lake ...

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.

  • Ebenezer
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Ebenezer is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ebenezer
  • Gumlog
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Gumlog is located in Towns County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gumlog
  • Hood ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Hood is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hood
  • Ivylog
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Ivylog is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivylog
  • Jones Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jones Creek is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones Creek
  • Laura ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Laura is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laura
  • Mashburn Mill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Mashburn Mill is located in Fannin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mashburn Mill
  • Otto ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Otto is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otto
  • Owltown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Owltown is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owltown
    • Estimated population in 2019: 2,346 people
  • Pine Log Village
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Pine Log Village is located in Clay County (NC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Log Village
  • Pinelog
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Pinelog is located in Clay County (NC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinelog
  • Pleasant Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Pleasant Hill
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Pleasant Hill is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
    • Rogers ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Rogers is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rogers
    • Trackrock ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Trackrock is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trackrock
    • Youngcane ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Youngcane is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Youngcane
      • Estimated population in 2019: 1,661 people

How Far From Canal Lake to ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Canal Lake and extending to:

  • Blairsville, which is the Seat of Union County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Atlanta, which is the State Capital of Georgia, lies 81 miles [130.4 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Canal Lake to Atlanta, with an average speed<2>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 473 miles [761.2 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 19 days and walking would take 27 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,369 miles [10,249.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,076 miles [11,387.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,953 miles [7,971.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Canal Lake) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Canal Lake 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 Canal Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.8954, Longitude: -83.9980       In this case, the coordinates for Canal Lake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.064 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.621 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.847 degrees.