Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Fort Mountain, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fort Mountain and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Fort Mountain
- 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 Fort Mountain:
- 34.772303, -84.750494
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Fort Mountain
- 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 Murray County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Murray County
- Since Fort Mountain is near Whitfield County and also Gilmer County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Whitfield County
- eBird sighting report for Gilmer 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:
- Waymark.com
Curious and Interesting Names Near Fort Mountain ...
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.
- Ball Ground
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ball Ground
- Ball Ground is located in Murray County
- Cedar Ridge
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Ridge
- Cedar Ridge is located in Whitfield County
- Dawnville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest) - Dennis
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast) - Keiths Mill
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Keiths Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keiths Mill
- Keiths Mill is located in Whitfield County
- Pleasant Hill
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
- Pleasant Hill is located in Gilmer County
- Ruralvale
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest) - Spring Place
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Place have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Place
- Spring Place is located in Murray County
- Treadwell
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
How Far From Fort Mountain 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 Fort Mountain 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<2> community of Fort Mountain once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Fort Mountain and extending to:
- Chatsworth, which is the Seat of Murray County, lies just to the West.
- Atlanta, which is the State Capital of Georgia, lies 73 miles [117.5 km]<3> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Fort Mountain to Atlanta, with an average speed<4>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 512 miles [824 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 20 days and walking would take 29 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,407 miles [10,311.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,115 miles [11,450.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,991 miles [8,032.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Georgia: https://georgia.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <2> | 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 Fort Mountain, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Fort Mountain) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fort Mountain. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.7723, Longitude: -84.7505 In this case, the coordinates for Fort Mountain have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Fort Mountain to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.508 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.115 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.181 degrees. |