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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Brocks, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Brocks 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 Brocks:
    • 34.916829, -77.525244
    • 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 Brocks
  • 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 Onslow County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Onslow County
    • Since Brocks is near Jones County and also Duplin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jones County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Duplin 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 Brocks

Communities Also Named Brocks ...

We found one communities that are also named Brocks.

Within North Carolina, the name Brocks is unique.

Beyond North Carolina, there is another community also named Brocks in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jefferson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Alabama community of Brocks [Jefferson County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Brocks ...

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.

  • Catherine Lake
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Catherine Lake is located in Onslow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catherine Lake
  • Cedar Creek
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Cedar Creek is located in Onslow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Creek
  • Comfort
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Comfort is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comfort
  • Francktown
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Francktown is located in Onslow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Francktown
  • Gregory Forks
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Gregory Forks is located in Onslow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gregory Forks
  • Gum Branch
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Gum Branch is located in Onslow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gum Branch
  • Half Moon
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Half Moon is located in Onslow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Half Moon
  • Haw Branch
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Haw Branch is located in Onslow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haw Branch
  • Jarmantown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jarmantown is located in Onslow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jarmantown
  • Raintree
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Raintree is located in Onslow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raintree
  • Shamrock Village
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Shamrock Village is located in Onslow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock Village

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Brocks and extending to:

  • Jacksonville, which is the Seat of Onslow County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Brocks to Jacksonville, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 86 miles [138.4 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 most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 276 miles [444.2 km] to the north (N). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,088 miles [9,797.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,776 miles [10,904.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,661 miles [7,501.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Brocks 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 'straight-line' (or 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- Brocks) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Brocks 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 Brocks. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.9168, Longitude: -77.5252       In this case, the coordinates for Brocks have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.345 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.357 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.337 degrees.