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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Olive Branch, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Olive Branch 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 Olive Branch:
    • 35.104039, -80.321174
    • 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 Olive Branch
  • 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 Union County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Union County
    • Since Olive Branch is near Anson County and also Stanly County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Anson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Stanly 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 Olive Branch

Communities Also Named Olive Branch ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Olive Branch.

Within North Carolina, the name Olive Branch is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Talbot County
      • This Olive Branch is located in Talbot County and lies 297 miles [478 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Olive Branch that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Talbot County community of Olive Branch.
    • Illinois
      • Alexander County
      • This Olive Branch is located in Alexander County and lies 523 miles [841.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Olive Branch that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Alexander County community of Olive Branch.
    • Kentucky
      • Fleming County
      • This Olive Branch is located in Fleming County and lies 294 miles [473.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Olive Branch that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fleming County community of Olive Branch.
      • Shelby County
      • This Olive Branch is located in Shelby County and lies 344 miles [553.6 km] to the northwest of the Olive Branch that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Shelby County community of Olive Branch.
    • Louisiana
      • East Feliciana Parish
      • This Olive Branch is located in East Feliciana Parish and lies 690 miles [1,110.4 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Olive Branch that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the East Feliciana Parish community of Olive Branch.
    • Michigan
      • Oakland County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Olive Branch [Oakland County].
    • Mississippi
      • DeSoto County
      • This Olive Branch is located in DeSoto County and lies 538 miles [865.8 km]<1> to the west of the Olive Branch that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the DeSoto County community of Olive Branch.
    • Nebraska
      • Lancaster County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nebraska community of Olive Branch [Lancaster County].
    • New York
      • Ulster County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New York community of Olive Branch [Ulster County].
    • Ohio
      • Clermont County
      • This Olive Branch is located in Clermont County and lies 348 miles [560.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Olive Branch that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clermont County community of Olive Branch.
    • Tennessee
      • Lauderdale County
      • This Olive Branch is located in Lauderdale County and lies 527 miles [848.1 km]<1> to the west of the Olive Branch that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lauderdale County community of Olive Branch.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Olive Branch ...

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.

  • Aquadale
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Aquadale is located in Stanly County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aquadale
  • Big Lick
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Big Lick is located in Stanly County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Lick
  • Cottonville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Cottonville is located in Stanly County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonville
  • Fountain Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Fountain Hill is located in Anson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountain Hill
  • Griffins Crossroads
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Griffins Crossroads is located in Anson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Griffins Crossroads
  • Marshville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Peachland
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Roper ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Roper is located in Anson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roper
  • Sugar Town
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Sugar Town is located in Anson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Town

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

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

  • Monroe, which is the Seat of Union County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Olive Branch to Monroe, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day 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 105 miles [169 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 318 miles [511.8 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 18 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,203 miles [9,982.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,900 miles [11,104.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,780 miles [7,692.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Olive Branch) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 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 Olive Branch 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Olive Branch 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 Olive Branch. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.1040, Longitude: -80.3212       In this case, the coordinates for Olive Branch have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.922 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.191 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.338 degrees.