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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Newfound, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Newfound 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 Newfound:
    • 35.604536, -82.731928
    • 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 Newfound
  • 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 Buncombe County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Buncombe County
    • Since Newfound is near Haywood County and also Madison County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Haywood County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison 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 Newfound

Communities Also Named Newfound ...

We found two communities that are also named Newfound.

Within North Carolina, the name Newfound is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Clay 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 Kentucky community of Newfound [Clay County].
    • West Virginia
      • Wyoming County
      • This Newfound is located in Wyoming County and lies 154 miles [247.8 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Newfound that is located in Buncombe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wyoming County community of Newfound.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Newfound ...

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.

  • Camelot
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Camelot is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camelot
  • Echo Hills
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Echo Hills is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo Hills
  • Georgetown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Georgetown is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
  • Hominy
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Hominy is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hominy
  • Jugtown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jugtown is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jugtown
  • Juno
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Juno is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Juno
  • Luther
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Luther is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luther
  • Owltown
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Owltown is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owltown
  • Sand Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Sand Hill is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Hill
  • Sandymush
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Sulphur Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Sulphur Springs is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sulphur Springs
  • Turnpike
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Turnpike is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turnpike
  • Woodside Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Woodside Hills is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodside Hills

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

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

  • Asheville, which is the Seat of Buncombe County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Newfound to Asheville, 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 229 miles [368.5 km] to the east (E). 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 White House (Washington, DC) is 386 miles [621.2 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,283 miles [10,111.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,989 miles [11,247.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,866 miles [7,831.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Newfound 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>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- Newfound) 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 Newfound 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 Newfound. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.6045, Longitude: -82.7319       In this case, the coordinates for Newfound have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.329 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.877 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.146 degrees.