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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Fairfax Heights, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fairfax Heights 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 Fairfax Heights:
    • 34.291836, -78.733073
    • 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 Fairfax Heights
  • 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 Columbus County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Columbus County
    • Since Fairfax Heights is near Bladen County and also Horry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bladen County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Horry 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 Fairfax Heights

Communities Also Named Fairfax Heights ...

We found two communities that are also named Fairfax Heights.

Within North Carolina, the name Fairfax Heights is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Tennessee
      • Hamilton County
      • This Fairfax Heights is located in Hamilton County and lies 374 miles [601.9 km]<1> to the west of the Fairfax Heights that is located in Columbus County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Fairfax Heights.
    • Virginia
      • Fairfax City
      • 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 Virginia community of Fairfax Heights [Fairfax City].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fairfax Heights ...

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.

  • Bird Cage
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Bird Cage is located in Columbus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bird Cage
  • Cribb Town
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Cribb Town is located in Columbus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cribb Town
  • Grist
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Grist is located in Columbus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grist
  • Halls
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Halls is located in Columbus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls
  • Hallsboro
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Hallsboro is located in Columbus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hallsboro
  • Honey Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Honey Hill is located in Columbus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honey Hill
  • Nobles Crossing
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Nobles Crossing is located in Columbus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nobles Crossing
  • Peacocks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Peacocks is located in Columbus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peacocks
  • Pine Log
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Pine Log is located in Columbus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Log
  • Pleasant Plains
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Pleasant Plains is located in Columbus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Plains
  • Potters Curve
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Potters Curve is located in Columbus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Potters Curve
  • Redbug
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Redbug is located in Columbus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redbug
  • Roseland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Roseland is located in Columbus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseland

How Far From Fairfax Heights 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 Fairfax Heights to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Whiteville, which is the Seat of Columbus County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 102 miles [164.2 km]<1> to the north (N). If you could drive a straight line from Fairfax Heights to Raleigh, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 331 miles [532.7 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,169 miles [9,928 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,857 miles [11,035.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,742 miles [7,631.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 from Point A (ie- Fairfax Heights) 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 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 Fairfax Heights 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 Fairfax Heights 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 Fairfax Heights. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.2918, Longitude: -78.7331       In this case, the coordinates for Fairfax Heights have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.028 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.048 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.986 degrees.