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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Cascades, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cascades 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 Cascades:
    • 36.125696, -79.041400
    • 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 Cascades
  • 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:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orange County
    • Since Cascades is near Durham County and also Person County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Durham County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Person 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 Cascades

Communities Also Named Cascades ...

We found four communities that are also named Cascades.

Within North Carolina, the name Cascades is unique.

Beyond North Carolina, we know of four communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, three are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Mississippi
      • Hinds County
      • This Cascades is located in Hinds County and lies 692 miles [1,113.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Cascades that is located in Orange County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hinds County community of Cascades.
    • Quebec
      • This Cascades lies 673 miles [1,083.1 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Cascades that is located in Orange County.
    • Virginia
      • Stafford County
      • This Cascades is located in Stafford County and lies 177 miles [284.9 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Cascades that is located in Orange County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stafford County community of Cascades.
    • Washington
      • Skamania County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Washington community of Cascades [Skamania County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Cascades ...

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.

  • Arrowhead
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Arrowhead is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arrowhead
  • Charter Meadows
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Charter Meadows is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charter Meadows
  • Deer Run
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Deer Run is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Run
  • Fieldstream
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Fieldstream is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fieldstream
  • Fox Run
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Fox Run is located in Durham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Run
  • Greymoss
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Greymoss is located in Durham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greymoss
  • Havenhill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Havenhill is located in Durham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havenhill
  • Heather Glen
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Heather Glen is located in Durham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heather Glen
  • Hillcrest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hillcrest is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
  • Just-A-Mere Landing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Just-A-Mere Landing is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Just-A-Mere Landing
  • Larry Hall
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Larry Hall is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Larry Hall
  • Mountain View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Mountain View is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Orange Heights
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Orange Heights is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange Heights
    • Piney Grove
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Piney Grove is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Grove
    • Poplar Ridge
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Poplar Ridge is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Ridge
    • Rosewood
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Rosewood is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosewood
    • Springcrest Meadows
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Springcrest Meadows is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springcrest Meadows
    • Willow Ridge
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Willow Ridge is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Ridge

How Far From Cascades to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Cascades to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Hillsborough, which is the Seat of Orange County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 32 miles [51.5 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could walk a straight line from Cascades to Raleigh, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two 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 220 miles [354.1 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,103 miles [9,821.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,800 miles [10,943.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,680 miles [7,531.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Cascades) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Cascades 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>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 Cascades 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 Cascades. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.1257, Longitude: -79.0414       In this case, the coordinates for Cascades have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.174 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.485 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.517 degrees.