Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Boone, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Boone and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Boone
- 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 Boone:
- 36.210625, -81.668412
- 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 Boone
- 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 Watauga County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Watauga County
- Since Boone is near Caldwell County and also Ashe County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Caldwell County
- eBird sighting report for Ashe 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 Boone ...
We found fourteen communities that share the name Boone.
Within North Carolina, the name Boone is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of another fourteen communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Boone ...
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.
- Bamboo
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bamboo
- Bamboo is located in Watauga County
- Echo Park
(5 miles [8 km] to the south) - Grave Yard ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grave Yard have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grave Yard
- Grave Yard is located in Watauga County
- Hillcrest
(Less than 2 miles to the north) - Hounds Ear
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hounds Ear have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hounds Ear
- Hounds Ear is located in Watauga County
- Laurel Park
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Laurel Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laurel Park
- Laurel Park is located in Watauga County
- Oak Grove
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest) - Poplar Grove
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Poplar Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Grove
- Poplar Grove is located in Watauga County
- Ski Mountain
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ski Mountain have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ski Mountain
- Ski Mountain is located in Watauga County
- Soda Hill
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north) - Solo
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
How Far From Boone 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 town such as Boone to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Boone and extending to:
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 171 miles [275.2 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Boone to Raleigh, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 314 miles [505.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 18 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,211 miles [9,995.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,916 miles [11,130.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,794 miles [7,715.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Boone: www.townofboone.net/
The official website for Watauga County: www.wataugacounty.org/
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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Boone) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Boone. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.2106, Longitude: -81.6684 In this case, the coordinates for Boone have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Boone, 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 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 Boone 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> | 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. |
| <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 Boone to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.704 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.249 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.541 degrees. |