Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Gay, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gay and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Gay
- 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 Gay:
- 35.291488, -83.273205
- 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 Gay
- 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 Jackson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Jackson County
- Since Gay is near Swain County and also Macon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Swain 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 Gay ...
We found nine communities that share the name Gay.
Within North Carolina, the name Gay is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of another nine communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Florida
- Georgia
- Meriwether County
- This Gay is located in Meriwether County and lies 168 miles [270.4 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Gay that is located in Jackson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Meriwether County community of Gay.
- Montgomery 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 Georgia community of Gay [Montgomery County].
- Idaho
- Michigan
- Oklahoma
- West Virginia
- Jackson County
- This Gay is located in Jackson County and lies 258 miles [415.2 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Gay that is located in Jackson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Gay.
- Logan 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 West Virginia community of Gay [Logan County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Gay ...
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.
- Big Laurel
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Big Laurel have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Laurel
- Big Laurel is located in Swain County
- Dean
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest) - Fallcliff
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast) - Greens Creek
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greens Creek
- Greens Creek is located in Jackson County
- Leatherman
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Leatherman. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leatherman
- Leatherman is located in Macon County
- Love Field
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Love Field have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Love Field
- Love Field is located in Jackson County
- Mountain Grove
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mountain Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Grove
- Mountain Grove is located in Macon County
- Pumpkintown
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pumpkintown have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumpkintown
- Pumpkintown is located in Jackson County
- Speedwell
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
How Far From Gay 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 Gay to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Gay and extending to:
- Sylva, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies just to the North Northeast.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 262 miles [421.6 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Gay to Raleigh, with an average speed<5>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 15 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 11 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 424 miles [682.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 24 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,321 miles [10,172.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,026 miles [11,307.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,903 miles [7,890.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Gay. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Jackson County: www.jacksonnc.org/
The official website for State of North Carolina: https://www.nc.gov/
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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Gay 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' (or 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- Gay) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Gay. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.2915, Longitude: -83.2732 In this case, the coordinates for Gay have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Gay to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.644 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.195 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.45 degrees. |