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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hardaway, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hardaway 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 Hardaway:
    • 35.716794, -81.841491
    • 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 Hardaway
  • 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 Burke County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Burke County
    • Since Hardaway is near McDowell County and also Rutherford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McDowell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rutherford 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 Hardaway

Communities Also Named Hardaway ...

We found three communities that are also named Hardaway.

Within North Carolina, the name Hardaway is unique.

Beyond North Carolina, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Macon County
      • This Hardaway is located in Macon County and lies 329 miles [529.5 km]<1> to the southwest of the Hardaway that is located in Burke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Macon County community of Hardaway.
    • Florida
      • Gadsden County
      • This Hardaway is located in Gadsden County and lies 388 miles [624.4 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Hardaway that is located in Burke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gadsden County community of Hardaway.
    • Georgia
      • Dougherty 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 Georgia community of Hardaway [Dougherty County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Hardaway ...

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
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Chambers is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chambers
  • Gold
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Gold is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold
  • Hickory Grove ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Hickory Grove is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Grove
  • Jacktown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jacktown is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacktown
  • Longtown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Longtown is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longtown
  • Magnolia
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Magnolia is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
  • Parkhill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Parkhill is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkhill
  • Pumpkin Center
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Pumpkin Center is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumpkin Center
  • Stumptown
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Stumptown is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stumptown
  • Table Rock
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Table Rock is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Table Rock
  • Tarkey Tail ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Tarkey Tail is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tarkey Tail

How Far From Hardaway 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 Hardaway 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 Hardaway once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Hardaway and extending to:

  • Morganton, which is the Seat of Burke County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 179 miles [288.1 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Hardaway to Raleigh, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 343 miles [552 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,241 miles [10,043.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,944 miles [11,175.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,822 miles [7,760.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Hardaway) 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 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 Hardaway 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 Hardaway, 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 Hardaway 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 Hardaway. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.7168, Longitude: -81.8415       In this case, the coordinates for Hardaway have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.805 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.293 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.756 degrees.