Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Raeford, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Raeford and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Raeford
- 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 Raeford:
- 34.980904, -79.228296
- 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 Raeford
- 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 Hoke County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Hoke County
- Since Raeford is near Scotland County and also Robeson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Scotland County
- eBird sighting report for Robeson 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 Raeford ...
We found one communities that share the name Raeford.
There is one other community in North Carolina which is also named Raeford.
Beyond North Carolina.
- Communities Located In North Carolina ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near Raeford ...
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.
- Arabia
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Edinburgh
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest) - Five Points
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Five Points have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
- Five Points is located in Hoke County
- Gold Hill
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast) - Hickory Grove
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hickory Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Grove
- Hickory Grove is located in Hoke County
- Hillcrest
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east) - Puppy Creek Ford
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Puppy Creek Ford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Puppy Creek Ford
- Puppy Creek Ford is located in Hoke County
- Sandy Grove
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sandy Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Grove
- Sandy Grove is located in Hoke County
- Silver City
(Less than 2 miles to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Silver City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver City
- Silver City is located in Hoke County
How Far From Raeford 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 city such as Raeford to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Raeford and extending to:
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 64 miles [103 km]<3> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could walk a straight line from Raeford to Raleigh, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 296 miles [476.4 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,161 miles [9,915.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,854 miles [11,030.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,736 miles [7,621.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Raeford: www.raeford.org/
The official website for Hoke County: www.hokecounty.org/
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 Raeford 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> | 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. |
| <3> | 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- Raeford) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Raeford. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.9809, Longitude: -79.2283 In this case, the coordinates for Raeford have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Raeford to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.299 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.46 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.956 degrees. |