Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Golden, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Golden and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Golden
- 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 Golden:
- 35.540126, -81.801210
- 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 Golden
- 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 Rutherford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Rutherford County
- Since Golden is near McDowell County and also Burke County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for McDowell County
- eBird sighting report for Burke 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 Golden ...
We found 32 communities that share the name Golden.
Within North Carolina, the name Golden is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of another 32 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 32 communities, 30 are located in the United States and two are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alaska
- This Golden lies 3,322 miles [5,346.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Golden that is located in Rutherford County.
- British Columbia
- This Golden lies 2,043 miles [3,287.9 km]<1> to the northwest of the Golden that is located in Rutherford County.
- Colorado
- Florida
- Georgia
- Brooks County
- This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Golden [Brooks County].
- Haralson County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Golden [Haralson County].
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Grant County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Golden [Grant County].
- Hamilton County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Golden [Hamilton County].
- Michigan
- Bay County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Golden [Bay County].
- Dickinson County
- This Golden is located in Dickinson County and lies 800 miles [1,287.5 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Golden that is located in Rutherford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dickinson County community of Golden.
- Menominee County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Golden [Menominee County].
- Midland County
- This Golden is located in Midland County and lies 571 miles [918.9 km] to the north of the Golden that is located in Rutherford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Midland County community of Golden.
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Mexico
- Oklahoma
- Grant County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Oklahoma community of Golden [Grant County].
- McCurtain County
- This Golden is located in McCurtain County and lies 749 miles [1,205.4 km]<1> to the west of the Golden that is located in Rutherford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the McCurtain County community of Golden.
- Ontario
- We haven't found the location of this community yet.
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Cass County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Golden [Cass County].
- Wood County
- This Golden is located in Wood County and lies 809 miles [1,302 km]<1> to the west of the Golden that is located in Rutherford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wood County community of Golden.
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Greenbrier County
- This Golden is located in Greenbrier County and lies 189 miles [304.2 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Golden that is located in Rutherford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greenbrier County community of Golden.
- Marshall County
- This Golden is located in Marshall County and lies 314 miles [505.3 km] to the north northeast of the Golden that is located in Rutherford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marshall County community of Golden.
- Alaska
Curious and Interesting Names Near Golden ...
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.
- Chambers ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast) - Delight
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast) - Enola
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast) - Five Points
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Five Points have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
- Five Points is located in Cleveland County
- Hopewell
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south) - Mountain Home ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mountain Home have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Home
- Mountain Home is located in McDowell County
- New Home
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east) - New House
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast) - Sunshine
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south) - Thermal City
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thermal City have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thermal City
- Thermal City is located in Rutherford County
- Trio ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west) - Union Mills
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Mills
- Union Mills is located in Rutherford County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Union Mills <5>
How Far From Golden to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Golden 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 community of Golden once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Golden and extending to:
- Rutherfordton, which is the Seat of Rutherford County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Golden to Rutherfordton, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 178 miles [286.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 11 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 349 miles [561.7 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<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,247 miles [10,053.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,950 miles [11,184.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,828 miles [7,769.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Rutherford County: www.rutherfordcountync.gov/
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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Golden) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Golden. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.5401, Longitude: -81.8012 In this case, the coordinates for Golden have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 Golden, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Golden 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. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Golden 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 310.78 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.239 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.791 degrees. |