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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Blands Crossroads:
    • 35.181274, -77.709141
    • 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 Blands Crossroads
  • 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 Lenoir County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lenoir County
    • Since Blands Crossroads is near Duplin County and also Wayne County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Duplin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wayne 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 Blands Crossroads

Curious and Interesting Names Near Blands Crossroads ...

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.

  • Deep Run
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Deep Run is located in Lenoir County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep Run
  • Drummersville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Drummersville is located in Duplin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drummersville
  • Falling Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Falling Creek is located in Lenoir County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falling Creek
  • Fields
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Fields is located in Lenoir County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fields
  • Gradys Crossroads
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Gradys Crossroads is located in Duplin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gradys Crossroads
  • Hickory Hills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Hickory Hills is located in Lenoir County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Hills
  • Jenny Lind
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jenny Lind is located in Lenoir County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenny Lind
  • Jonestown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jonestown is located in Lenoir County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonestown
  • Little Baltimore
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Little Baltimore is located in Lenoir County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Baltimore
  • Mary Beth Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Mary Beth Park is located in Lenoir County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mary Beth Park
  • Nobles Crossroads
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Nobles Crossroads is located in Lenoir County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nobles Crossroads
  • Nobles Mill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Nobles Mill is located in Lenoir County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nobles Mill
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Parrott Fork
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Parrott Fork is located in Lenoir County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parrott Fork
    • Pot Neck
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Pot Neck is located in Lenoir County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pot Neck
    • Random Woods
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Random Woods is located in Lenoir County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Random Woods
    • Sandy Bottom
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Sandy Bottom is located in Lenoir County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Bottom

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Blands Crossroads and extending to:

  • Kinston, which is the Seat of Lenoir County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Blands Crossroads to Kinston, with an average speed<2> 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.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 66 miles [106.2 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 259 miles [416.8 km] to the north (N). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,085 miles [9,792.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,775 miles [10,903.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,659 miles [7,497.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Blands Crossroads) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Blands Crossroads 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 Blands Crossroads. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.1813, Longitude: -77.7091       In this case, the coordinates for Blands Crossroads have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.441 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.506 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.318 degrees.