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 The Downs:
35.876535, -78.991399
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.
We found fourteen communities that share the name The Downs.
Within North Carolina, the name The Downs is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of another fourteen communities that are located throughout in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Alabama
Macon County
This The Downs is located in Macon County and lies 461 miles [741.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the The Downs that is located in Durham County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Macon County community of The Downs.
Tuscaloosa County
This The Downs is located in Tuscaloosa County and lies 520 miles [836.9 km] to the west southwest of the The Downs that is located in Durham County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tuscaloosa County community of The Downs.
Georgia
Warren County
This The Downs is located in Warren County and lies 276 miles [444.2 km]<1> to the southwest of the The Downs that is located in Durham County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Warren County community of The Downs.
Washington County
This The Downs is located in Washington County and lies 285 miles [458.7 km] to the southwest of the The Downs that is located in Durham County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of The Downs.
Illinois
McLean County
This The Downs is located in McLean County and lies 621 miles [999.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the The Downs that is located in Durham County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the McLean County community of The Downs.
Kansas
Osborne County
This The Downs is located in Osborne County and lies 1,095 miles [1,762.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the The Downs that is located in Durham County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Osborne County community of The Downs.
Maryland
Anne Arundel County
This The Downs is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 254 miles [408.8 km]<1> to the north northeast of the The Downs that is located in Durham County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of The Downs.
Oregon
Marion County
This The Downs is located in Marion County and lies 2,355 miles [3,790 km]<1> to the west northwest of the The Downs that is located in Durham County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of The Downs.
South Carolina
Greenwood 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 South Carolina community of The Downs [Greenwood County].
Texas
McLennan County
This The Downs is located in McLennan County and lies 1,081 miles [1,739.7 km]<1> to the west of the The Downs that is located in Durham County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the McLennan County community of The Downs.
Utah
Salt Lake County
This The Downs is located in Salt Lake County and lies 1,800 miles [2,896.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the The Downs that is located in Durham County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Salt Lake County community of The Downs.
Weber County
This The Downs is located in Weber County and lies 1,808 miles [2,909.7 km] to the west northwest of the The Downs that is located in Durham County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Weber County community of The Downs.
Washington
Lincoln County
This The Downs is located in Lincoln County and lies 2,155 miles [3,468.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the The Downs that is located in Durham County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lincoln County community of The Downs.
West Virginia
Marion County
This The Downs is located in Marion County and lies 261 miles [420 km]<1> to the north northwest of the The Downs that is located in Durham County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of The Downs.
Curious and Interesting Names Near The Downs ...
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.
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as The Downs to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in The Downs and extending to:
Durham, which is the Seat of Durham County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from The Downs to Durham, with an average speed<5> 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 20 miles [32.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 234 miles [376.6 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 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,111 miles [9,834.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,808 miles [10,956.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,688 miles [7,544.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Footnotes ...
<1>
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- The Downs) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in The Downs. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.8765, Longitude: -78.9914 In this case, the coordinates for The Downs have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 The Downs 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 The Downs 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 309.151 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.421 degrees.
<9>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.579 degrees.