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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in East Marion, we use the following websites to find information relevant to East Marion 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 East Marion:
    • 35.684291, -81.991774
    • 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 East Marion
  • 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 McDowell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McDowell County
    • Since East Marion is near Burke County and also Rutherford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Burke County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rutherford 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 East Marion

Communities Also Named East Marion ...

We found two communities that are also named East Marion.

Within North Carolina, the name East Marion is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Massachusetts
      • Plymouth County
      • This East Marion is located in Plymouth County and lies 734 miles [1,181.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the East Marion that is located in McDowell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Plymouth County community of East Marion.
    • New York
      • Suffolk County
      • This East Marion is located in Suffolk County and lies 642 miles [1,033.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the East Marion that is located in McDowell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Suffolk County community of East Marion.

Curious and Interesting Names Near East Marion ...

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.

  • Garden Creek
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Garden Creek is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Creek
  • Hardaway ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Hardaway is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardaway
  • Jacktown
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jacktown is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacktown
  • Longtown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Longtown is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longtown
  • Marion
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Pleasant Gardens
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Pleasant Gardens is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Gardens
  • Providence
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Providence is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
  • Stumptown
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Stumptown is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stumptown
  • Sugar Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Sugar Hill is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Hill
  • Toms Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Toms Creek is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toms Creek
  • Woodlawn
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Woodlawn is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn

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

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

  • Marion, which is the Seat of McDowell County, lies just to the West.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 187 miles [300.9 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from East Marion to Raleigh, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 351 miles [564.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 20 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,248 miles [10,055.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,953 miles [11,189.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,830 miles [7,773.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- East Marion) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 East Marion 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 East Marion. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.6843, Longitude: -81.9918       In this case, the coordinates for East Marion have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.893 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.389 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.825 degrees.