Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Azalea, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Azalea and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Azalea
- 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 Azalea:
- 35.580934, -82.473294
- 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 Azalea
- 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 Buncombe County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Buncombe County
- Since Azalea is near Henderson County and also McDowell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Henderson County
- eBird sighting report for McDowell 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
Communities Also Named Azalea ...
We found three communities that share the name Azalea.
There is one other community in North Carolina which is also named Azalea.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In North Carolina ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Oregon
Curious and Interesting Names Near Azalea ...
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.
- Dogwood Grove
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dogwood Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dogwood Grove
- Dogwood Grove is located in Buncombe County
- Gashes Creek
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gashes Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gashes Creek
- Gashes Creek is located in Buncombe County
- Happy Valley
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Happy Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Happy Valley
- Happy Valley is located in Buncombe County
- Haw Creek
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west) - Mountainbrook
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mountainbrook have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountainbrook
- Mountainbrook is located in Buncombe County
- Riceville
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north) - Rolling Green
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rolling Green have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Green
- Rolling Green is located in Buncombe County
- Rosebank Park
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rosebank Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosebank Park
- Rosebank Park is located in Buncombe County
- Spring Time
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Time have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Time
- Spring Time is located in Buncombe County
How Far From Azalea 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 Azalea to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Azalea and extending to:
- Asheville, which is the Seat of Buncombe County, lies just to the West Northwest.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 215 miles [346 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Azalea to Raleigh, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 13 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 9 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 376 miles [605.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take 6 hours, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,274 miles [10,097 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,978 miles [11,230 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,856 miles [7,815 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Azalea. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Buncombe County: www.buncombecounty.org/
The official website for State of North Carolina: https://www.nc.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Azalea 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. |
| <2> | 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- Azalea) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Azalea. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.5809, Longitude: -82.4733 In this case, the coordinates for Azalea have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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. |
| <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 Azalea 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 311.176 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.698 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.048 degrees. |