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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lackey Town, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lackey Town 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 Lackey Town:
    • 35.611788, -82.164835
    • 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 Lackey Town
  • 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 McDowell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McDowell County
    • Since Lackey Town is near Buncombe County and also Rutherford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Buncombe 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 Lackey Town

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lackey Town ...

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.

  • Gage ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Gage is located in Rutherford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gage
  • Garden Creek
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Garden Creek is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Creek
  • Graphite
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Graphite is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graphite
  • Jeter ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Jeter is located in Rutherford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jeter
  • Marion
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Otter Creek ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Otter Creek is located in Rutherford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otter Creek
  • Pleasant Gardens
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Pleasant Gardens is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Gardens
  • Providence
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Providence is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
  • Quail Ridge
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Quail Ridge is located in Rutherford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Ridge
  • Shingle Hollow
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Shingle Hollow is located in Rutherford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shingle Hollow
  • Sugar Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Sugar Hill is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Hill
  • Toms Creek
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Toms Creek is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toms Creek
  • Walkertown
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Walkertown is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walkertown

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Lackey Town and extending to:

  • Marion, which is the Seat of McDowell County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Lackey Town to Marion, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 197 miles [317 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 361 miles [581 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take 6 hours, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 21 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,259 miles [10,072.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,963 miles [11,205.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,841 miles [7,790.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Lackey Town) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Lackey Town 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 Lackey Town. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.6118, Longitude: -82.1648       In this case, the coordinates for Lackey Town have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.994 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.495 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.916 degrees.