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 Smith Crossroads:
34.694337, -78.374168
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 Smith Crossroads
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 Bladen County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found four communities that are also named Smith Crossroads.
Within North Carolina, the name Smith Crossroads is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Alabama
Tallapoosa County
This Smith Crossroads is located in Tallapoosa County and lies 439 miles [706.5 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Smith Crossroads that is located in Bladen County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tallapoosa County community of Smith Crossroads.
Delaware
Kent County
This Smith Crossroads is located in Kent County and lies 337 miles [542.3 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Smith Crossroads that is located in Bladen County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kent County community of Smith Crossroads.
Florida
Holmes County
This Smith Crossroads is located in Holmes County and lies 499 miles [803.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Smith Crossroads that is located in Bladen County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Holmes County community of Smith Crossroads.
West Virginia
Morgan County
This Smith Crossroads is located in Morgan County and lies 336 miles [540.7 km]<1> to the north of the Smith Crossroads that is located in Bladen County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morgan County community of Smith Crossroads.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Smith Crossroads ...
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.
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 Smith Crossroads to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Smith Crossroads and extending to:
Elizabethtown, which is the Seat of Bladen County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Smith Crossroads to Elizabethtown, with an average speed<2> 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 76 miles [122.3 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 299 miles [481.2 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,136 miles [9,874.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,825 miles [10,983.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,709 miles [7,578.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Smith Crossroads) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>
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.
<3>
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 Smith Crossroads 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 Smith Crossroads. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.6943, Longitude: -78.3742 In this case, the coordinates for Smith Crossroads have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.823 degrees.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.871 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.726 degrees.