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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Flat Gap, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Flat Gap 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 Flat Gap:
    • 35.720408, -81.571205
    • 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 Flat Gap
  • 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 Burke County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Burke County
    • Since Flat Gap is near Caldwell County and also Catawba County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Caldwell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Catawba 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 Flat Gap

Communities Also Named Flat Gap ...

We found three communities that are also named Flat Gap.

Within North Carolina, the name Flat Gap is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Tennessee
      • Hancock 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 Tennessee community of Flat Gap [Hancock County].
      • Jefferson County
      • This Flat Gap is located in Jefferson County and lies 109 miles [175.4 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Flat Gap that is located in Burke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Flat Gap.
    • Virginia
      • Wise County
      • This Flat Gap is located in Wise County and lies 112 miles [180.2 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Flat Gap that is located in Burke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wise County community of Flat Gap.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Flat Gap ...

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.

  • Drowning Creek ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Drowning Creek is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drowning Creek
  • Enola
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Enola is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enola
  • Hickory Grove ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Hickory Grove is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Grove
  • Lovelady ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Lovelady is located in Caldwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lovelady
  • Magnolia
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Magnolia is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
  • Pleasant Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Pumpkin Center
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Pumpkin Center is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumpkin Center
  • Smokey Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Smokey Creek is located in Caldwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smokey Creek
  • Sunnyside
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Sunnyside is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
  • Yellow Gap
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Yellow Gap is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yellow Gap

How Far From Flat Gap 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 Flat Gap to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Morganton, which is the Seat of Burke County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 164 miles [263.9 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Flat Gap to Raleigh, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 331 miles [532.7 km] to the northeast (NE). 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 6,229 miles [10,024.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,932 miles [11,156 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,810 miles [7,740.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 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 Flat Gap 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Flat Gap) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Flat Gap 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 Flat Gap. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.7204, Longitude: -81.5712       In this case, the coordinates for Flat Gap have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.646 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.111 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.646 degrees.