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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Jappa Oaks, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Jappa Oaks 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 Jappa Oaks:
    • 36.049308, -79.075012
    • 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 Jappa Oaks
  • 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 Orange County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orange County
    • Since Jappa Oaks is near Durham County and also Alamance County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Durham County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alamance 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 Jappa Oaks

Curious and Interesting Names Near Jappa Oaks ...

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.

  • Cornwallis Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Cornwallis Hills is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornwallis Hills
  • Falls of New Hope
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Falls of New Hope is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falls of New Hope
  • Hillcrest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Hillcrest is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
  • Mountain View
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Mountain View is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View
  • Orange Heights
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Orange Heights is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange Heights
  • Piney Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Piney Grove is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Grove
  • Poplar Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Poplar Ridge is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Ridge
  • Rosewood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Rosewood is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosewood
  • Stagecoach Run
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Stagecoach Run is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stagecoach Run
  • University
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • University is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University
  • Walnut Cove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Walnut Cove is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Cove
  • Wildwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Wildwood is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Jappa Oaks and extending to:

  • Hillsborough, which is the Seat of Orange County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 30 miles [48.3 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could walk a straight line from Jappa Oaks to Raleigh, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 226 miles [363.7 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,107 miles [9,828.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,805 miles [10,951.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,685 miles [7,539.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

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- Jappa Oaks) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Jappa Oaks 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 Jappa Oaks. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.0493, Longitude: -79.0750       In this case, the coordinates for Jappa Oaks have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.195 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.498 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.555 degrees.