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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Goulds, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Goulds and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Goulds:
    • 36.102908, -81.338703
    • 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 Goulds
  • 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 Wilkes County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wilkes County
    • Since Goulds is near Caldwell County and also Watauga County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Caldwell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Watauga 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 Goulds

Communities Also Named Goulds ...

We found six communities that are also named Goulds.

Within North Carolina, the name Goulds is unique.

Beyond North Carolina, we know of six communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, four are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Miami-Dade County
      • This Goulds is located in Miami-Dade County and lies 729 miles [1,173.2 km]<1> to the south of the Goulds that is located in Wilkes County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Miami-Dade County community of Goulds.
    • New York
      • Delaware County
      • This Goulds is located in Delaware County and lies 523 miles [841.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Goulds that is located in Wilkes County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Delaware County community of Goulds.
    • Newfoundland and Labrador
      • This Goulds lies 1,653 miles [2,660.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Goulds that is located in Wilkes County.
    • Ohio
      • Jefferson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Goulds [Jefferson County].
    • Ontario
      • This Goulds lies 632 miles [1,017.1 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Goulds that is located in Wilkes County.
    • Tennessee
      • Coffee County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Goulds [Coffee County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Goulds ...

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.

  • Boomer
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Boomer is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boomer
  • Brown ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Brown is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brown
  • Buck
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Buck is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buck
  • Denny ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Denny is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denny
  • Elkville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Elkville is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkville
  • Harley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Harley is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harley
  • Kings Creek
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Kings Creek is located in Caldwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Creek
  • Maple Springs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Maple Springs is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Springs
  • Mount Pleasant
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Parsonville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Parsonville is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parsonville
  • Ready Branch
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Ready Branch is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ready Branch
  • Stokes ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Stokes is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stokes
  • Thankful
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Thankful is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thankful

How Far From Goulds 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 Goulds 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<3> community of Goulds once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Goulds and extending to:

  • Wilkesboro, which is the Seat of Wilkes County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Goulds to Wilkesboro, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 152 miles [244.6 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 304 miles [489.2 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 18 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,202 miles [9,981.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,906 miles [11,114.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,783 miles [7,697.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Goulds) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Goulds 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>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 Goulds, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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.
<5>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 Goulds 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 Goulds. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.1029, Longitude: -81.3387       In this case, the coordinates for Goulds have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.51 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.011 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.439 degrees.