Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in McCray, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McCray and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for McCray
- 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 McCray:
- 36.172358, -79.386132
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on McCray
- 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 Alamance County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Alamance County
- Since McCray is near Caswell County and also Orange County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Caswell County
- eBird sighting report for Orange 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:
- Waymark.com
Curious and Interesting Names Near McCray ...
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.
- Birchwood
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Clover Garden
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clover Garden have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clover Garden
- Clover Garden is located in Alamance County
- Granite Village
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Granite Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granite Village
- Granite Village is located in Alamance County
- Green Acres
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Acres have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
- Green Acres is located in Alamance County
- Green Level
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Level have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Level
- Green Level is located in Alamance County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,341 people
- Haw River
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Haw River have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haw River
- Haw River is located in Alamance County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,532 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Haw River <2>
- Hunting Hills
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hunting Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunting Hills
- Hunting Hills is located in Alamance County
- Just Crossroads
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Just Crossroads. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Just Crossroads
- Just Crossroads is located in Alamance County
- Lakeview
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
- Lakeview is located in Alamance County
- Pleasant Grove
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
- Pleasant Grove is located in Alamance County
- Spring Valley
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
- Spring Valley is located in Alamance County
- Stony Creek
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Stony Creek. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Creek
- Stony Creek is located in Caswell County
- Union Ridge
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Union Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Ridge
- Union Ridge is located in Alamance County
- Woodlawn
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
How Far From McCray 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 McCray to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in McCray and extending to:
- Graham, which is the Seat of Alamance County, lies just to the South.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 49 miles [78.9 km]<4> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could walk a straight line from McCray to Raleigh, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 227 miles [365.3 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<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,115 miles [9,841.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,814 miles [10,966.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,694 miles [7,554.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for McCray. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Alamance County: www.alamance-nc.com/
The official website for State of North Carolina: https://www.nc.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <4> | 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- McCray) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in McCray. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.1724, Longitude: -79.3861 In this case, the coordinates for McCray have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 McCray to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.372 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.718 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.638 degrees. |