RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of North Carolina >> Orange County >> Falls of New Hope >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Falls of New Hope, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Falls of New Hope 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 Falls of New Hope:
    • 36.008753, -79.062511
    • 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 Falls of New Hope
  • 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 Orange County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orange County
    • Since Falls of New Hope is near Durham County and also Alamance County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Durham County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alamance 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 Falls of New Hope

Curious and Interesting Names Near Falls of New Hope ...

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.

  • Cedar Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Cedar Hill is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Hill
  • Cornwallis Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cornwallis Hills is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornwallis Hills
  • Coventry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Coventry is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coventry
  • Fox Meadows
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Fox Meadows is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Meadows
  • Lake Ellen
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Lake Ellen is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Ellen
  • Manor Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Manor Hill is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manor Hill
  • Mountain View
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Mountain View is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View
  • Pine Knob
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Pine Knob is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Knob
  • Piney Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Piney Grove is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Grove
  • Poplar Ridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Poplar Ridge is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Ridge
  • Quail Run
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Quail Run is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Run
  • Stagecoach Run
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Stagecoach Run is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stagecoach Run
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • University
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • University is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University
    • Walnut Cove
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Walnut Cove is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Cove
    • Whispering Pines
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Whispering Pines is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whispering Pines
    • Wildwood
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Wildwood is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood

How Far From Falls of New Hope 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 Falls of New Hope to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Falls of New Hope and extending to:

  • Hillsborough, which is the Seat of Orange County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 28 miles [45.1 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could walk a straight line from Falls of New Hope to Raleigh, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 228 miles [366.9 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 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,109 miles [9,831.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,806 miles [10,953.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,686 miles [7,541.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Falls of New Hope) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Falls of New Hope 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 Falls of New Hope. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.0088, Longitude: -79.0625       In this case, the coordinates for Falls of New Hope have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.189 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.484 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.564 degrees.