RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of North Carolina >> Gaston County >> Gardner Park >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gardner Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gardner Park 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 Gardner Park:
    • 35.254305, -81.130910
    • 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 Gardner Park
  • 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 Gaston County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gaston County
    • Since Gardner Park is near Mecklenburg County and also York County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mecklenburg County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for York 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 Gardner Park

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gardner Park ...

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.

  • Begonia ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Begonia is located in Gaston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Begonia
  • Boogertown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Boogertown is located in Gaston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boogertown
  • Forest Brook
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Forest Brook is located in Gaston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Brook
  • Groves
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Groves is located in Gaston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Groves
  • Jenkins Heights
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jenkins Heights is located in Gaston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins Heights
  • Love Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Love Park is located in Gaston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Love Park
  • Mount Holly
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Paradise Point
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Paradise Point is located in Gaston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise Point
  • Springwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Springwood is located in Gaston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springwood
  • Stanley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)

How Far From Gardner Park 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 Gardner Park to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Gastonia, which is the Seat of Gaston County, lies just to the West.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 144 miles [231.7 km]<2> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Gardner Park to Raleigh, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 337 miles [542.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 20 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,231 miles [10,027.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,931 miles [11,154.4 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Gardner Park) 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 Gardner Park 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 Gardner Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.2543, Longitude: -81.1309       In this case, the coordinates for Gardner Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.388 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.748 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.609 degrees.