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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Francis Mill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Francis Mill 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 Francis Mill:
    • 36.135990, -77.108016
    • 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 Francis Mill
  • 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 Bertie County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bertie County
    • Since Francis Mill is near Hertford County and also Halifax County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hertford County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Halifax 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 Francis Mill

Communities Also Named Francis Mill ...

We found one communities that are also named Francis Mill.

Within North Carolina, the name Francis Mill is unique.

Beyond North Carolina, there is another community also named Francis Mill in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Calhoun 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 Alabama community of Francis Mill [Calhoun County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Francis Mill ...

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.

  • Buzzards Crossroads
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Buzzards Crossroads is located in Bertie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buzzards Crossroads
  • Drew
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Drew is located in Bertie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drew
  • Eagletown
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Eagletown is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagletown
  • Elm Grove
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Elm Grove is located in Bertie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Grove
  • George
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • George is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for George
  • Grabtown
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Grabtown is located in Bertie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grabtown
  • Millennium
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Millennium is located in Hertford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millennium
  • Poor Town
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Poor Town is located in Hertford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poor Town
  • Republican
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Republican is located in Bertie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Republican
  • Todds Crossroads
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Todds Crossroads is located in Bertie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Todds Crossroads
  • Trap
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Trap is located in Bertie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trap
  • Union
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Union is located in Hertford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union

How Far From Francis Mill 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 Francis Mill to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Francis Mill and extending to:

  • Windsor, which is the Seat of Bertie County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Francis Mill to Windsor, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 89 miles [143.2 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 190 miles [305.8 km] to the north (N). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,018 miles [9,685 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,710 miles [10,798.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,593 miles [7,391.7 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 Francis Mill 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Francis Mill) 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 Francis Mill 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 Francis Mill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.1360, Longitude: -77.1080       In this case, the coordinates for Francis Mill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.072 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.226 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.761 degrees.