Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Old Fort, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Old Fort and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Old Fort
- 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 Old Fort:
- 35.629151, -82.181380
- 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 Old Fort
- 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 McDowell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for McDowell County
- Since Old Fort is near Buncombe County and also Rutherford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Buncombe County
- eBird sighting report for Rutherford 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 Old Fort ...
We found six communities that share the name Old Fort.
Within North Carolina, the name Old Fort is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, four are located in the United States and three are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- British Columbia
- This Old Fort lies 2,467 miles [3,970.3 km]<1> to the northwest of the Old Fort that is located in McDowell County.
- Idaho
- Ohio
- Ontario
- Pennsylvania
- Wisconsin
- British Columbia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Old Fort ...
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.
- Gage ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south) - Garden Creek
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garden Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Creek
- Garden Creek is located in McDowell County
- Graphite
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest) - Grovestone
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grovestone have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grovestone
- Grovestone is located in Buncombe County
- Jeter ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south) - Marion
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marion have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marion
- Marion is located in McDowell County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 7,937 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Marion <4>
- Otter Creek ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Otter Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otter Creek
- Otter Creek is located in Rutherford County
- Pleasant Gardens
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Gardens
- Pleasant Gardens is located in McDowell County
- Providence
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Providence have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
- Providence is located in McDowell County
- Sugar Hill
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Hill
- Sugar Hill is located in McDowell County
- Toms Creek
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Toms Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toms Creek
- Toms Creek is located in McDowell County
- Walkertown
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Walkertown have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walkertown
- Walkertown is located in Buncombe County
How Far From Old Fort 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 town such as Old Fort to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Old Fort and extending to:
- Marion, which is the Seat of McDowell County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Old Fort to Marion, with an average speed<5> 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 198 miles [318.7 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 361 miles [581 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take 6 hours, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 21 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,259 miles [10,072.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,963 miles [11,205.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,841 miles [7,790.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Old Fort. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of North Carolina: https://www.nc.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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- Old Fort) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Old Fort. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.6292, Longitude: -82.1814 In this case, the coordinates for Old Fort have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Old Fort 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. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Old Fort 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 311.004 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.509 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.917 degrees. |