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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McDade, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McDade 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 McDade:
    • 36.189218, -79.170657
    • 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 McDade
  • 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 Orange County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orange County
    • Since McDade is near Caswell County and also Person County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Caswell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Person 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 McDade

Communities Also Named McDade ...

We found three communities that are also named McDade.

Within North Carolina, the name McDade is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Montgomery County
      • This McDade is located in Montgomery County and lies 474 miles [762.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the McDade that is located in Orange County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of McDade.
    • Louisiana
      • Bossier Parish
      • This McDade is located in Bossier Parish and lies 860 miles [1,384 km]<1> to the west southwest of the McDade that is located in Orange County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bossier Parish community of McDade.
    • Texas
      • Bastrop County
      • This McDade is located in Bastrop County and lies 1,118 miles [1,799.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the McDade that is located in Orange County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bastrop County community of McDade.

Curious and Interesting Names Near McDade ...

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.

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

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

  • Hillsborough, which is the Seat of Orange County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 40 miles [64.4 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could walk a straight line from McDade to Raleigh, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 220 miles [354.1 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<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,105 miles [9,825 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,804 miles [10,950 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,683 miles [7,536.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- McDade) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 McDade 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 McDade. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.1892, Longitude: -79.1707       In this case, the coordinates for McDade have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.247 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.578 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.547 degrees.