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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Johns, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Johns 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 Johns:
    • 34.699883, -79.442825
    • 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 Johns
  • 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 Scotland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Scotland County
    • Since Johns is near Robeson County and also Marlboro County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Robeson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marlboro 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 Johns

Communities Also Named Johns ...

We found five communities that are also named Johns.

Within North Carolina, the name Johns is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jefferson County
      • This Johns is located in Jefferson County and lies 448 miles [721 km]<1> to the west of the Johns that is located in Scotland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Johns.
    • Mississippi
      • Rankin County
      • This Johns is located in Rankin County and lies 624 miles [1,004.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Johns that is located in Scotland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rankin County community of Johns.
    • South Carolina
      • Union 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 South Carolina community of Johns [Union County].
    • Virginia
      • Powhatan 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 Virginia community of Johns [Powhatan County].
    • West Virginia
      • Boone County
      • This Johns is located in Boone County and lies 269 miles [432.9 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Johns that is located in Scotland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boone County community of Johns.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Johns ...

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.

  • Crossway
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Crossway is located in Scotland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossway
  • Hasty
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Hasty is located in Scotland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hasty
  • Lincoln Heights
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Lincoln Heights is located in Scotland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Heights
  • Masons Crossroads
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Masons Crossroads is located in Scotland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Masons Crossroads
  • Red Bluff
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Red Bluff is located in Marlboro County (SC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bluff
  • Sandy Bottoms
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Sandy Bottoms is located in Scotland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Bottoms
  • Sugar Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Sugar Hill is located in Scotland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Hill
  • Sunshine Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Sunshine Park is located in Scotland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunshine Park
  • Whispering Pines
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Whispering Pines is located in Scotland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whispering Pines
  • Woodrun
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Woodrun is located in Scotland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodrun

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

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

  • Laurinburg, which is the Seat of Scotland County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 87 miles [140 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Johns to Raleigh, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 318 miles [511.8 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 18 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,182 miles [9,949 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,875 miles [11,064.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,757 miles [7,655.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Johns) 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 Johns 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>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.
<4>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 Johns 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 Johns. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.6999, Longitude: -79.4428       In this case, the coordinates for Johns have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.423 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.56 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.125 degrees.