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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ela, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ela 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 Ela:
- 35.449542, -83.390711
- 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 Ela
- 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 Swain County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Swain County
- Since Ela is near Jackson County and also Macon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Macon 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 Ela
Communities Also Named Ela ...
We found two communities that are also named Ela.
Within North Carolina, the name Ela is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Illinois
- Lake 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 Illinois community of Ela [Lake County].
- Virginia
- Scott 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 Virginia community of Ela [Scott County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ela ...
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.
- Big Laurel
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Big Laurel is located in Swain County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Laurel
- Birdtown
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Birdtown is located in Swain County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birdtown
- Cherokee
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Greens Creek
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Greens Creek is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greens Creek
- Halls Ford
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Halls Ford is located in Swain County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls Ford
- Indian Hills
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Indian Hills is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
- Jenkins Place
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Jenkins Place is located in Swain County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins Place
- Maple Springs
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Maple Springs is located in Swain County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Springs
- Paint Town
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Paint Town is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paint Town
- Roundhill
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Roundhill is located in Swain County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roundhill
How Far From Ela to ...
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 Ela to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Ela and extending to:
- Bryson City, which is the Seat of Swain County, lies just to the West Southwest.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 267 miles [429.7 km]<3> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Ela to Raleigh, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 16 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 11 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 422 miles [679.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 24 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,318 miles [10,167.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,025 miles [11,305.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,902 miles [7,889 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
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 Ela 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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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- Ela) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Ela 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 Ela. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.4495, Longitude: -83.3907 In this case, the coordinates for Ela have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.717 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.301 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.455 degrees. |
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