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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ryland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ryland 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 Ryland:
    • 36.277178, -76.623345
    • 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 Ryland
  • 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 Chowan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chowan County
    • Since Ryland is near Perquimans County and also Gates County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Perquimans County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gates 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 Ryland

Communities Also Named Ryland ...

We found four communities that are also named Ryland.

Within North Carolina, the name Ryland is unique.

Beyond North Carolina, we know of four communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, three are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Madison County
      • This Ryland is located in Madison County and lies 563 miles [906.1 km]<1> to the west of the Ryland that is located in Chowan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Ryland.
    • Kentucky
      • Kenton County
      • This Ryland is located in Kenton County and lies 466 miles [750 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Ryland that is located in Chowan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kenton County community of Ryland.
    • Ontario
      • This Ryland lies 994 miles [1,599.7 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Ryland that is located in Chowan County.
    • Virginia
      • Culpeper 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 Virginia community of Ryland [Culpeper County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ryland ...

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.

  • Carter
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Carter is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carter
  • Hickory Crossroads
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hickory Crossroads is located in Perquimans County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Crossroads
  • Hobbsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Joppa
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Joppa is located in Chowan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joppa
  • Keys Crossroads
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Keys Crossroads is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keys Crossroads
  • Lloyd Crossroads
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Lloyd Crossroads is located in Hertford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lloyd Crossroads
  • Mitchells Fork
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Mount Rose
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Mount Rose is located in Chowan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Rose
  • Muddy Cross
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Sign Pine
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Sign Pine is located in Chowan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sign Pine
  • Snow Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Snow Hill is located in Perquimans County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snow Hill
  • Trotville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Trotville is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trotville

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

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

  • Edenton, which is the Seat of Chowan County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Ryland to Edenton, with an average speed<3> 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 117 miles [188.3 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 182 miles [292.9 km] to the north (N). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,991 miles [9,641.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,683 miles [10,755.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,565 miles [7,346.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ryland) 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 Ryland 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 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.
<4>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 Ryland 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 Ryland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.2772, Longitude: -76.6233    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.792 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.928 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.525 degrees.