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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Kona, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Kona 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 Kona:
- 35.950117, -82.191790
- 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 Kona
- 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 Mitchell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Mitchell County
- Since Kona is near Yancey County and also McDowell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Yancey County
- Open the eBird sighting report for McDowell 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 Kona
Communities Also Named Kona ...
We found two communities that are also named Kona.
Within North Carolina, the name Kona is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Hawaii
- 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 Hawaii community of Kona.
- Kentucky
- Letcher County
- This Kona is located in Letcher County and lies 88 miles [141.6 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Kona that is located in Mitchell County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Letcher County community of Kona.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Kona ...
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.
- Blue Rock
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Blue Rock is located in Yancey County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Rock
- Double Island
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Double Island is located in Yancey County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Double Island
- Green Mountain
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Greene Cove
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Greene Cove is located in Mitchell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greene Cove
- Ledger
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Ledger is located in Mitchell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ledger
- Loafers Glory
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Loafers Glory is located in Mitchell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loafers Glory
- Normanville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Normanville is located in Mitchell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Normanville
- Red Hill
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Red Hill is located in Mitchell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Hill
- Toecane
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Toecane is located in Mitchell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toecane
- Wing
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Wing is located in Mitchell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wing
How Far From Kona 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 Kona to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Kona and extending to:
- Bakersville, which is the Seat of Mitchell County, lies just to the North Northeast.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 198 miles [318.7 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Kona 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 12 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 348 miles [560.1 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 6,245 miles [10,050.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,951 miles [11,186.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,828 miles [7,769.9 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 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 Kona 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 '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- Kona) 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 Kona 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 Kona. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.9501, Longitude: -82.1918 In this case, the coordinates for Kona have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.013 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.565 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.829 degrees. |
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