Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ola, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ola and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Ola
- 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 Ola:
- 35.669544, -83.097923
- 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 Ola
- 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 Haywood County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Haywood County
- Since Ola is near Cocke County and also Swain County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Cocke County
- eBird sighting report for Swain 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
Communities Also Named Ola ...
We found ten communities that share the name Ola.
There is one other community in North Carolina which is also named Ola.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of another nine communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In North Carolina ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- California
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Iowa
- Michigan
- Nevada
- South Dakota
- Texas
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ola ...
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.
- Cove
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east) - Cove Creek
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cove Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cove Creek
- Cove Creek is located in Haywood County
- Crabtree
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast) - Fines Creek
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fines Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fines Creek
- Fines Creek is located in Haywood County
- Grassy Fork
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grassy Fork have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grassy Fork
- Grassy Fork is located in Cocke County (TN)
- Iron Duff
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast) - Jonathan
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast) - Maggie Valley
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maggie Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maggie Valley
- Maggie Valley is located in Haywood County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,258 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Maggie Valley <5>
- Nellie
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south) - Palm ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Panther Creek
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Panther Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panther Creek
- Panther Creek is located in Haywood County
- Three Forks
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Three Forks have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Forks
- Three Forks is located in Swain County
How Far From Ola 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 Ola to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Ola and extending to:
- Waynesville, which is the Seat of Haywood County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Ola to Waynesville, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 249 miles [400.7 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 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 400 miles [643.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,296 miles [10,132.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,003 miles [11,270.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,880 miles [7,853.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Ola. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Haywood County: www.gov.co.haywood.nc.us/
The official website for State of North Carolina: https://www.nc.gov/
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 Ola 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 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ola) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ola. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.6695, Longitude: -83.0979 In this case, the coordinates for Ola have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Ola, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Ola to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.547 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.137 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.276 degrees. |