RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Georgia >> Wilkes County >> Thaxton >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • 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 Thaxton:
    • 33.825678, -82.887923
    • 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 Thaxton
  • 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 Wilkes County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wilkes County
    • Since Thaxton is near Oglethorpe County and also Taliaferro County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Oglethorpe County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Taliaferro 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 Thaxton

Communities Also Named Thaxton ...

We found four communities that are also named Thaxton.

Within Georgia, the name Thaxton is unique.

Beyond Georgia, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Mississippi
      • Pontotoc County
      • This Thaxton is located in Pontotoc County and lies 361 miles [581 km]<1> to the west of the Thaxton that is located in Wilkes County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pontotoc County community of Thaxton.
    • North Carolina
      • Ashe 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 North Carolina community of Thaxton [Ashe County].
    • Tennessee
      • Warren 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 Tennessee community of Thaxton [Warren County].
    • Virginia
      • Bedford County
      • This Thaxton is located in Bedford County and lies 305 miles [490.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Thaxton that is located in Wilkes County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bedford County community of Thaxton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Thaxton ...

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.

  • Brickhouse
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Brickhouse is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brickhouse
  • Celeste
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Celeste is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Celeste
  • Centerville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Centerville is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
  • Enterprise
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Enterprise is located in Oglethorpe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enterprise
  • Goose Pond ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Goose Pond is located in Oglethorpe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goose Pond
  • Hogan
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Hogan is located in Oglethorpe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hogan
  • Lincoln Heights
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Lincoln Heights is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Heights
  • Linesville
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Linesville is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linesville
  • Norman
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Norman is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norman
  • Wise ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Wise is located in Oglethorpe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wise

How Far From Thaxton 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 Thaxton 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<3> community of Thaxton once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Thaxton and extending to:

  • Washington, which is the Seat of Wilkes County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Thaxton to Washington, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Atlanta, which is the State Capital of Georgia, lies 86 miles [138.4 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 477 miles [767.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 19 days and walking would take 28 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,371 miles [10,253.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,070 miles [11,378.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,949 miles [7,964.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Thaxton) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Thaxton 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>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 Thaxton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Thaxton 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 Thaxton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.8257, Longitude: -82.8879       In this case, the coordinates for Thaxton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.382 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.684 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.685 degrees.