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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Scarsdale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Scarsdale 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 Scarsdale:
    • 35.853206, -78.641392
    • 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 Scarsdale
  • 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 Wake County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wake County
    • Since Scarsdale is near Durham County and also Chatham County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Durham County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chatham 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 Scarsdale

Communities Also Named Scarsdale ...

We found five communities that are also named Scarsdale.

Within North Carolina, the name Scarsdale is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Cook County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Scarsdale [Cook County].
    • Louisiana
      • Plaquemines Parish
      • This Scarsdale is located in Plaquemines Parish and lies 776 miles [1,248.9 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Scarsdale that is located in Wake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Plaquemines Parish community of Scarsdale.
    • New York
      • Westchester County
      • This Scarsdale is located in Westchester County and lies 441 miles [709.7 km]<2> to the northeast of the Scarsdale that is located in Wake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Westchester County community of Scarsdale.
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Scarsdale lies 952 miles [1,532.1 km]<2> to the northeast of the Scarsdale that is located in Wake County.
    • Texas
      • Harris County
      • This Scarsdale is located in Harris County and lies 1,052 miles [1,693 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Scarsdale that is located in Wake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harris County community of Scarsdale.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Scarsdale ...

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.

  • Cedar Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Cedar Hill is located in Wake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Hill
  • Chestnut Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Chestnut Hills is located in Wake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Hills
  • Eden Forest
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Eden Forest is located in Wake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden Forest
  • Falls Church
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Falls Church is located in Wake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falls Church
  • Fox Run
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Fox Run is located in Wake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Run
  • Hickory Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Hickory Hills is located in Wake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Hills
  • Hickory Hollow
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Hickory Hollow is located in Wake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Hollow
  • Markwood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Markwood is located in Wake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Markwood
  • Quail Hollow
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Quail Hollow is located in Wake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Hollow
  • Quail Meadow
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Quail Meadow is located in Wake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Meadow
  • Quail Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Quail Ridge is located in Wake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Ridge
  • Royal Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Royal Hills is located in Wake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Hills
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Six Forks
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Six Forks is located in Wake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Six Forks
    • Village Gate
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Village Gate is located in Wake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Village Gate
    • Waco Heights
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Waco Heights is located in Wake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waco Heights
    • Yorkshire Downs
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Yorkshire Downs is located in Wake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yorkshire Downs

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

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

  • Raleigh, which is the Seat of Wake County, lies just to the South.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies just to the south (S).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 227 miles [365.3 km]<2> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Scarsdale to White House, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 13 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,097 miles [9,812.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,793 miles [10,932.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,673 miles [7,520.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 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 Scarsdale 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>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- Scarsdale) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Scarsdale 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 Scarsdale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.8532, Longitude: -78.6414       In this case, the coordinates for Scarsdale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.951 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.19 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.45 degrees.