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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Elon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Elon 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 Elon:
    • 36.098873, -79.509589
    • 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 Elon
  • 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 Alamance County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alamance County
    • Since Elon is near Guilford County and also Caswell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Guilford County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Caswell 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 Elon

Communities Also Named Elon ...

We found six communities that are also named Elon.

Within North Carolina, the name Elon is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Madison County
      • This Elon is located in Madison County and lies 406 miles [653.4 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Elon that is located in Alamance County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Elon.
    • Arkansas
      • Ashley County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Elon [Ashley County].
    • Indiana
      • Orange 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 Indiana community of Elon [Orange County].
    • Iowa
      • Allamakee County
      • This Elon is located in Allamakee County and lies 798 miles [1,284.3 km]<1> to the northwest of the Elon that is located in Alamance County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allamakee County community of Elon.
    • Mississippi
      • Noxubee County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Mississippi community of Elon [Noxubee County].
    • Virginia
      • Amherst County
      • This Elon is located in Amherst County and lies 99 miles [159.3 km]<1> to the north of the Elon that is located in Alamance County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Amherst County community of Elon.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Elon ...

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.

  • Birchwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Birchwood is located in Alamance County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birchwood
  • Cedar Crest
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Cedar Crest is located in Alamance County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Crest
  • Clover Garden
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Clover Garden is located in Alamance County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clover Garden
  • Graham
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Graham is located in Alamance County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 15,766 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Graham <4>
  • Green Acres
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Acres is located in Alamance County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Grove Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Grove Park is located in Alamance County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Park
  • Hunting Hills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Hunting Hills is located in Alamance County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunting Hills
  • Lakeview
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Lakeview is located in Alamance County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Mark View
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Mark View is located in Alamance County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mark View
  • Pickwood Hills
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Pickwood Hills is located in Alamance County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickwood Hills
  • Quail Hollow
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Quail Hollow is located in Alamance County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Hollow
  • Random Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Random Hills is located in Alamance County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Random Hills
  • Spring Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Spring Valley is located in Alamance County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley

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

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

  • Graham, which is the Seat of Alamance County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 53 miles [85.3 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could walk a straight line from Elon to Raleigh, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 235 miles [378.2 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 6,124 miles [9,855.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,823 miles [10,980.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,702 miles [7,567.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Elon) 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 Elon, 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 Elon 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Elon 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 Elon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.0989, Longitude: -79.5096       In this case, the coordinates for Elon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.445 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.79 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.71 degrees.