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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Idalia, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Idalia 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 Idalia:
    • 35.280170, -76.791043
    • 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 Idalia
  • 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 Beaufort County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Beaufort County
    • Since Idalia is near Pamlico County and also Craven County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pamlico County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Craven 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 Idalia

Communities Also Named Idalia ...

We found four communities that are also named Idalia.

Within North Carolina, the name Idalia is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Arapahoe 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 Colorado community of Idalia [Arapahoe County].
      • Yuma County
      • This Idalia is located in Yuma County and lies 1,425 miles [2,293.3 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Idalia that is located in Beaufort County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Yuma County community of Idalia.
    • Florida
      • Leon 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 Florida community of Idalia [Leon County].
    • Missouri
      • Stoddard County
      • This Idalia is located in Stoddard County and lies 736 miles [1,184.5 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Idalia that is located in Beaufort County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stoddard County community of Idalia.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Idalia ...

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.

  • Aurora
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Edward
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Jones
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jones is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones
  • Reads Chapel
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Reads Chapel is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reads Chapel
  • Royal
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Royal is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal
  • Shell Landing
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Shell Landing is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Landing
  • Silver Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Silver Hill is located in Pamlico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Hill
  • Small
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Small is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Small
  • Spring Creek
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Spring Creek is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Creek
  • Swan Corner
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Swan Corner is located in Pamlico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swan Corner
  • Vinegar Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Vinegar Hill is located in Beaufort County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vinegar Hill

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Idalia and extending to:

  • Washington, which is the Seat of Beaufort County, lies 23 miles [37 km]<2> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Idalia to Washington, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 109 miles [175.4 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 250 miles [402.3 km] to the north (N). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,040 miles [9,720.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,728 miles [10,827.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,613 miles [7,423.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Idalia 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Idalia) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Idalia 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 Idalia. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.2802, Longitude: -76.7910       In this case, the coordinates for Idalia have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.926 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.931 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.941 degrees.