Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Blackwood, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blackwood and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Blackwood
- 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 Blackwood:
- 35.992364, -79.072234
- 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 Blackwood
- 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 Orange County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Orange County
- Since Blackwood is near Durham County and also Alamance County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Durham County
- eBird sighting report for Alamance 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 Blackwood ...
We found nine communities that share the name Blackwood.
Within North Carolina, the name Blackwood is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of another nine communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Virginia
- Montgomery County
- This Blackwood is located in Montgomery County and lies 112 miles [180.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Blackwood that is located in Orange County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Blackwood.
- Wise County
- This Blackwood is located in Wise County and lies 211 miles [339.6 km] to the west northwest of the Blackwood that is located in Orange County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wise County community of Blackwood.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Blackwood ...
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.
- Cedar Hill
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Hill
- Cedar Hill is located in Orange County
- Cornwallis Hills
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cornwallis Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornwallis Hills
- Cornwallis Hills is located in Orange County
- Coventry
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast) - Falls of New Hope
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Falls of New Hope have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falls of New Hope
- Falls of New Hope is located in Orange County
- Fox Meadows
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fox Meadows have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Meadows
- Fox Meadows is located in Orange County
- Hidden Hills
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hidden Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidden Hills
- Hidden Hills is located in Orange County
- Ironwoods
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south) - Lake Ellen
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Ellen have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Ellen
- Lake Ellen is located in Orange County
- Manor Hill
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Manor Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manor Hill
- Manor Hill is located in Orange County
- Pine Knob
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast) - Piney Grove
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Piney Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Grove
- Piney Grove is located in Orange County
- Quail Run
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south) - Continue List (6 more) ...
- Spring Valley
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
- Spring Valley is located in Orange County
- Stagecoach Run
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stagecoach Run have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stagecoach Run
- Stagecoach Run is located in Orange County
- University
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for University have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University
- University is located in Orange County
- Walnut Cove
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Walnut Cove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Cove
- Walnut Cove is located in Orange County
- Whispering Pines
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Whispering Pines have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whispering Pines
- Whispering Pines is located in Orange County
- Wildwood
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Spring Valley
How Far From Blackwood 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 Blackwood to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Blackwood and extending to:
- Hillsborough, which is the Seat of Orange County, lies just to the North Northwest.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 28 miles [45.1 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could walk a straight line from Blackwood to Raleigh, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 229 miles [368.5 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,110 miles [9,833.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,807 miles [10,954.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,687 miles [7,543 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Blackwood. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Orange County: www.co.orange.nc.us/
The official website for State of North Carolina: https://www.nc.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Blackwood) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Blackwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.9924, Longitude: -79.0722 In this case, the coordinates for Blackwood have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Blackwood 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> | 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 Blackwood 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 309.195 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.489 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.573 degrees. |