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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Carmen, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Carmen 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 Carmen:
    • 36.004828, -82.640974
    • 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 Carmen
  • 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 Madison County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison County
    • Since Carmen is near Unicoi County and also Greene County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Unicoi County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greene 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 Carmen

Communities Also Named Carmen ...

We found seven communities that are also named Carmen.

Within North Carolina, the name Carmen is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Crenshaw County
      • This Carmen is located in Crenshaw County and lies 364 miles [585.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Carmen that is located in Madison County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Crenshaw County community of Carmen.
    • Arizona
      • Santa Cruz County
      • This Carmen is located in Santa Cruz County and lies 1,652 miles [2,658.6 km]<1> to the west of the Carmen that is located in Madison County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Santa Cruz County community of Carmen.
    • Idaho
      • Lemhi County
      • This Carmen is located in Lemhi County and lies 1,744 miles [2,806.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Carmen that is located in Madison County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lemhi County community of Carmen.
    • Kansas
      • Gray County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Gray County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gray County community of Carmen.
      • Meade County
      • This community is historic and although located in Meade County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Meade County community of Carmen.
    • New York
      • Albany 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 New York community of Carmen [Albany County].
    • Oklahoma
      • Alfalfa County
      • This Carmen is located in Alfalfa County and lies 880 miles [1,416.2 km]<1> to the west of the Carmen that is located in Madison County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Alfalfa County community of Carmen.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Carmen ...

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.

  • Bethany
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Bethany is located in Greene County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bethany
  • Big Laurel
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Big Laurel is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Laurel
  • Chapel Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
  • Clear Branch
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Clear Branch is located in Unicoi County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Branch
    • Former name for Clear Branch:
    • Kittyton
  • Coffee Ridge
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Coffee Ridge is located in Unicoi County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coffee Ridge
  • Cutshalltown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cutshalltown is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cutshalltown
  • English
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • English is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for English
  • Flag Pond
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Flag Pond is located in Unicoi County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flag Pond
  • Greystone
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Greystone is located in Greene County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greystone
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Harris Mill
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Harris Mill is located in Unicoi County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris Mill
    • Ivy Ridge
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Ivy Ridge is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivy Ridge
    • Little Creek
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Little Creek is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Creek
    • Painter Spring
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Painter Spring is located in Washington County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Painter Spring
    • Rice Mill
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Rice Mill is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Mill
    • Rocky Fork
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Rocky Fork is located in Unicoi County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Fork

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

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

  • Marshall, which is the Seat of Madison County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Carmen to Marshall, with an average speed<4> 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 four to five hours.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 224 miles [360.5 km] to the east (E). 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 White House (Washington, DC) is 366 miles [589 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take 6 hours, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 21 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,261 miles [10,076.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,968 miles [11,213.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,845 miles [7,797.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Carmen) 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 Carmen, 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 Carmen 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 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 Carmen 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 Carmen. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.0048, Longitude: -82.6410       In this case, the coordinates for Carmen have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.279 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.878 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.997 degrees.