Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Forney, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Forney and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Forney
- 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 Forney:
- 35.438138, -83.560810
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Forney
- 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:
- eBird sighting report for Swain County
- Since Forney is near Graham County and also Macon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Graham County
- 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Forney ...
We found seven communities that share the name Forney.
Within North Carolina, the name Forney is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- Texas
Curious and Interesting Names Near Forney ...
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.
- Almond
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Almond have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Almond
- Almond is located in Swain County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Almond <4>
- Halls Ford
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Halls Ford have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls Ford
- Halls Ford is located in Swain County
- Hidetown
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest) - Jenkins Place
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jenkins Place have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins Place
- Jenkins Place is located in Swain County
- Maple Springs
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maple Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Springs
- Maple Springs is located in Swain County
- Needmore
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south) - Roundhill
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east) - Shallow Ford
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shallow Ford have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shallow Ford
- Shallow Ford is located in Macon County
- Talc Mountain
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Talc Mountain have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Talc Mountain
- Talc Mountain is located in Swain County
How Far From Forney to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Forney to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<5> community of Forney once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Forney and extending to:
- Bryson City, which is the Seat of Swain County, lies just to the East.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 277 miles [445.8 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Forney to Raleigh, with an average speed<6>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 431 miles [693.6 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 25 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,326 miles [10,180.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,033 miles [11,318.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,910 miles [7,901.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Swain County: www.swaincounty.org/
The official website for State of North Carolina: https://www.nc.gov/
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 from Point A (ie- Forney) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Forney. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.4381, Longitude: -83.5608 |
| <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 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 Forney 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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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 Forney, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Forney to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.818 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.415 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.527 degrees. |