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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Skyland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Skyland 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 Skyland:
    • 35.489281, -82.524288
    • 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 Skyland
  • 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 Buncombe County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Buncombe County
    • Since Skyland is near Henderson County and also Transylvania County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henderson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Transylvania 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 Skyland

Communities Also Named Skyland ...

We found seven communities that are also named Skyland.

Within North Carolina, the name Skyland is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • San Bernardino County
      • This Skyland is located in San Bernardino County and lies 1,961 miles [3,155.9 km]<1> to the west of the Skyland that is located in Buncombe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Bernardino County community of Skyland.
    • Georgia
      • DeKalb 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 Georgia community of Skyland [DeKalb County].
    • Massachusetts
      • Hampden County
      • This Skyland is located in Hampden County and lies 682 miles [1,097.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Skyland that is located in Buncombe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hampden County community of Skyland.
    • Nevada
      • Douglas County
      • This Skyland is located in Douglas County and lies 2,056 miles [3,308.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Skyland that is located in Buncombe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Douglas County community of Skyland.
    • Oregon
      • Clackamas 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 Oregon community of Skyland [Clackamas County].
    • South Carolina
      • Greenville County
      • This Skyland is located in Greenville County and lies 34 miles [54.7 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Skyland that is located in Buncombe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greenville County community of Skyland.
    • Virginia
      • Page County
      • This Skyland is located in Page County and lies 313 miles [503.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Skyland that is located in Buncombe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Page County community of Skyland.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Skyland ...

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.

  • Dogwood Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Dogwood Grove is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dogwood Grove
  • Gashes Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Gashes Creek is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gashes Creek
  • Goodluck
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Goodluck is located in Henderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodluck
  • Haw Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Haw Creek is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haw Creek
  • Hazel Green
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Hazel Green is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazel Green
  • Hoopers Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Hoopers Creek is located in Henderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoopers Creek
  • Mountain View
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Mountain View is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View
  • Mountainbrook
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Mountainbrook is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountainbrook
  • Murphy Junction
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Murphy Junction is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murphy Junction
  • Naples
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Naples is located in Henderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Naples
  • Rosebank Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Rosebank Park is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosebank Park
  • Royal Pines
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Royal Pines is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Pines
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Sand Hill
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Sand Hill is located in Buncombe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Hill
    • Spring Time
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Spring Time is located in Buncombe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Time
    • Sulphur Springs
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Sulphur Springs is located in Buncombe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sulphur Springs
    • Valley Springs
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Valley Springs is located in Buncombe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Springs

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

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

  • Asheville, which is the Seat of Buncombe County, lies just to the North.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 218 miles [350.8 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Skyland to Raleigh, 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 White House (Washington, DC) is 382 miles [614.8 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,280 miles [10,106.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,985 miles [11,241.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,862 miles [7,824.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Skyland) 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 Skyland 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 Skyland 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 Skyland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.4893, Longitude: -82.5243       In this case, the coordinates for Skyland have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.205 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.718 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.095 degrees.