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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Maiden, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Maiden 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 Maiden:
    • 35.584602, -81.216554
    • 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 Maiden
  • 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 Catawba County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Catawba County
    • Since Maiden is near Lincoln County and also Gaston County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lincoln County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gaston 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 Maiden

Communities Also Named Maiden ...

We found three communities that are also named Maiden.

Within North Carolina, the name Maiden is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Missouri
      • Callaway 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 Missouri community of Maiden [Callaway County].
    • Montana
      • Beaverhead County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Beaverhead County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Beaverhead County community of Maiden.
      • Fergus County
      • This Maiden is located in Fergus County and lies 1,644 miles [2,645.8 km]<3> to the northwest of the Maiden that is located in Catawba County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fergus County community of Maiden.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Maiden ...

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.

  • Boger City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Boger City is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boger City
  • Daniels ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Daniels is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daniels
  • Drums Crossroads
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Drums Crossroads is located in Catawba County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drums Crossroads
  • Fairgrove
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Fairgrove is located in Catawba County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairgrove
  • Goodsonville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Goodsonville is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodsonville
  • Olivers Crossroads
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Olivers Crossroads is located in Catawba County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olivers Crossroads
  • Plateau
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Plateau is located in Catawba County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plateau
  • Pleasant ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Pleasant is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant
  • Providence Mill
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Providence Mill is located in Catawba County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence Mill
  • Pumpkin Center
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Pumpkin Center is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumpkin Center
  • Startown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Startown is located in Catawba County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Startown

How Far From Maiden to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a town such as Maiden to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Newton, which is the Seat of Catawba County, lies just to the North.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 145 miles [233.4 km]<3> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Maiden to Raleigh, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 324 miles [521.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,220 miles [10,010.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,921 miles [11,138.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,800 miles [7,724.9 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 Maiden 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Maiden, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Maiden) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Maiden 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 Maiden. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.5846, Longitude: -81.2166       In this case, the coordinates for Maiden have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.439 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.854 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.545 degrees.