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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Starlight, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Starlight 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 Starlight:
    • 35.266553, -78.258331
    • 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 Starlight
  • 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 Wayne County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wayne County
    • Since Starlight is near Sampson County and also Johnston County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sampson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Johnston 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 Starlight

Communities Also Named Starlight ...

We found five communities that are also named Starlight.

Within North Carolina, the name Starlight is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Clark County
      • This Starlight is located in Clark County and lies 474 miles [762.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Starlight that is located in Wayne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clark County community of Starlight.
    • Louisiana
      • Natchitoches Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Starlight [Natchitoches Parish].
    • Missouri
      • Grundy 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 Missouri community of Starlight [Grundy County].
    • New York
      • Sullivan 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 New York community of Starlight [Sullivan County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Wayne County
      • This Starlight is located in Wayne County and lies 484 miles [778.9 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Starlight that is located in Wayne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of Starlight.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Starlight ...

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.

  • Calypso
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Calypso is located in Duplin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calypso
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 528 people
  • Dobbersville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Dobbersville is located in Sampson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dobbersville
  • Harper
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Harper is located in Johnston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harper
  • Hatcher
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Hatcher is located in Sampson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hatcher
  • Herrings Crossroads
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Herrings Crossroads is located in Sampson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herrings Crossroads
  • Lees Mill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Lees Mill is located in Johnston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees Mill
  • Monks Crossroads
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Monks Crossroads is located in Sampson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monks Crossroads
  • Overshot
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Overshot is located in Johnston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Overshot
  • Peacocks Crossroads
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Peacocks Crossroads is located in Johnston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peacocks Crossroads
  • Poplar Grove
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Poplar Grove is located in Sampson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Grove
  • Red Hill
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Red Hill is located in Sampson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Hill
  • Spring Hope
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Spring Hope is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Hope
  • Stevens Mill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Stevens Mill is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stevens Mill
  • Timothy
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Timothy is located in Sampson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timothy

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

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

  • Goldsboro, which is the Seat of Wayne County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Starlight to Goldsboro, 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 five to six hours.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 41 miles [66 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 259 miles [416.8 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,106 miles [9,826.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,797 miles [10,938.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,680 miles [7,531.7 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Starlight) 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 Starlight 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 Starlight 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 Starlight. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.2666, Longitude: -78.2583       In this case, the coordinates for Starlight have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.747 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.869 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.497 degrees.