Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Mertie, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mertie and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Mertie
- 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 Mertie:
- 36.303741, -81.237868
- 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 Mertie
- 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 Wilkes County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Wilkes County
- Since Mertie is near Alleghany County and also Ashe County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Alleghany County
- eBird sighting report for Ashe 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 Mertie ...
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.
- Brewers ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east) - Dockery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east) - Fairplains
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairplains have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairplains
- Fairplains is located in Wilkes County
- Halls Mills
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Halls Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls Mills
- Halls Mills is located in Wilkes County
- Hay Meadow ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hay Meadow have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hay Meadow
- Hay Meadow is located in Wilkes County
- Hays
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hays have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hays
- Hays is located in Wilkes County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hays <2>
- Lester ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest) - Mulberry
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mulberry
- Mulberry is located in Wilkes County
- Newlife ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast) - Ore Knob
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest) - Pleasant Grove
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)- 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 Alleghany County
- Whitty ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Wildwood Park
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wildwood Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood Park
- Wildwood Park is located in Wilkes County
How Far From Mertie 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 Mertie to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Mertie once stood, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Mertie and extending to:
- Wilkesboro, which is the Seat of Wilkes County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<4> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Mertie to Wilkesboro, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 149 miles [239.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 291 miles [468.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,189 miles [9,960.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,893 miles [11,093.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,771 miles [7,678.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Wilkes County: www.wilkescounty.net/
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> | 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 Mertie, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Mertie) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Mertie. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.3037, Longitude: -81.2379 In this case, the coordinates for Mertie 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 Mertie 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 310.45 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.971 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.338 degrees. |