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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rusk, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rusk and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Rusk:
    • 36.289857, -80.762290
    • 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 Rusk
  • 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 Surry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Surry County
    • Since Rusk is near Yadkin County and also Wilkes County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Yadkin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wilkes 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 Rusk

Communities Also Named Rusk ...

We found eight communities that are also named Rusk.

Within North Carolina, the name Rusk is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Martin County
      • This Rusk is located in Martin County and lies 364 miles [585.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Rusk that is located in Surry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Martin County community of Rusk.
    • Iowa
      • Pocahontas County
      • This Rusk is located in Pocahontas County and lies 863 miles [1,388.9 km]<1> to the northwest of the Rusk that is located in Surry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pocahontas County community of Rusk.
    • Michigan
      • Ottawa County
      • This Rusk is located in Ottawa County and lies 538 miles [865.8 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Rusk that is located in Surry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ottawa County community of Rusk.
    • Oklahoma
      • Woods 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 Oklahoma community of Rusk [Woods County].
    • Tennessee
      • Johnson 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 Tennessee community of Rusk [Johnson County].
    • Texas
      • Cherokee County
      • This Rusk is located in Cherokee County and lies 878 miles [1,413 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Rusk that is located in Surry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cherokee County community of Rusk.
    • West Virginia
      • Ritchie County
      • This Rusk is located in Ritchie County and lies 199 miles [320.3 km]<1> to the north of the Rusk that is located in Surry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ritchie County community of Rusk.
    • Wisconsin
      • Dunn County
      • This Rusk is located in Dunn County and lies 829 miles [1,334.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Rusk that is located in Surry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dunn County community of Rusk.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rusk ...

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.

  • Jonesville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Level Cross
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Level Cross is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Level Cross
  • Little Richmond
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Little Richmond is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Richmond
  • Mount Pleasant
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Yadkin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Mountain Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Mountain Park is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Park
  • Mulberry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Mulberry is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mulberry
  • Pleasant Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Pleasant Hill is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
  • Pleasant Ridge
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Pleasant Ridge is located in Wilkes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
  • Poplar Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Poplar Springs is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Springs
  • Stony Knoll
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Stony Knoll is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Knoll
  • Turkey Ford
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Turkey Ford is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Ford
  • Union Cross
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Union Cross is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Cross
  • Zephyr
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Zephyr is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zephyr

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of Rusk once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Rusk and extending to:

  • Dobson, which is the Seat of Surry County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 123 miles [197.9 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Rusk to Raleigh, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 271 miles [436.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,169 miles [9,928 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,872 miles [11,059.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,750 miles [7,644.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Rusk) 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 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 Rusk 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>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 Rusk, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Rusk 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 Rusk. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.2899, Longitude: -80.7623       In this case, the coordinates for Rusk have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.171 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.65 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.15 degrees.