RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of North Carolina >> Wilkes County >> Benham >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Benham, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Benham 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 Benham:
    • 36.290411, -80.917574
    • 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 Benham
  • 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 Benham is near Surry County and also Yadkin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Surry County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Yadkin 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 Benham

Communities Also Named Benham ...

We found four communities that are also named Benham.

Within North Carolina, the name Benham is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Ripley County
      • This Benham is located in Ripley County and lies 301 miles [484.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Benham that is located in Wilkes County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ripley County community of Benham.
    • Kentucky
      • Harlan County
      • This Benham is located in Harlan County and lies 121 miles [194.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Benham that is located in Wilkes County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harlan County community of Benham.
    • Louisiana
      • East Carroll Parish
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Benham [East Carroll Parish].
    • Michigan
      • Emmet County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Benham [Emmet County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Benham ...

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.

  • Chuckle ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Chuckle is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chuckle
  • Jonesville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Little Richmond
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Little Richmond is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Richmond
  • Martin ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Martin is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin
  • Mountain Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Mountain Park is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Park
  • Mulberry
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Mulberry is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mulberry
  • Offer ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Offer is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Offer
  • Pleasant Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Pleasant Hill is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
  • Pleasant Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Pleasant Ridge is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
  • Poplar Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Poplar Springs is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Springs
  • Roaring Gap
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Roaring River
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Roaring River is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roaring River
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Swan Creek
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Swan Creek is located in Yadkin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swan Creek
    • Traphill
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Union Hill
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Union Hill is located in Surry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill
    • Zebra ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Zebra is located in Wilkes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zebra
    • Zephyr
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Zephyr is located in Surry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zephyr

How Far From Benham 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 Benham to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Wilkesboro, which is the Seat of Wilkes County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Benham to Wilkesboro, with an average speed<5> 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 five to six hours.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 131 miles [210.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 278 miles [447.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,176 miles [9,939.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,879 miles [11,070.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,757 miles [7,655.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Benham) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Benham, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Benham 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.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Benham 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 Benham. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.2904, Longitude: -80.9176       In this case, the coordinates for Benham have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.262 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.754 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.212 degrees.