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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Stearns, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Stearns 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 Stearns:
- 35.272615, -82.216225
- 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 Stearns
- 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 Polk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Polk County
- Since Stearns is near Greenville County and also Spartanburg County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Greenville County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Spartanburg 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 Stearns
Communities Also Named Stearns ...
We found six communities that are also named Stearns.
Within North Carolina, the name Stearns is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of six communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Kentucky
- McCreary County
- This Stearns is located in McCreary County and lies 160 miles [257.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the Stearns that is located in Polk County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the McCreary County community of Stearns.
- Michigan
- Lake 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 Michigan community of Stearns [Lake County].
- Midland County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Stearns [Midland County].
- Montana
- Lewis and Clark 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 Montana community of Stearns [Lewis and Clark County].
- Oregon
- Deschutes County
- This Stearns is located in Deschutes County and lies 2,149 miles [3,458.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Stearns that is located in Polk County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Deschutes County community of Stearns.
- Wisconsin
- Green County
- This Stearns is located in Green County and lies 645 miles [1,038 km]<1> to the northwest of the Stearns that is located in Polk County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Green County community of Stearns.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Stearns ...
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.
- Burnt Chimney Corner
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Columbus
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Copper Ford
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Copper Ford is located in Henderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copper Ford
- Five Oaks
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Five Oaks is located in Spartanburg County (SC)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Oaks
- Hickory Grove
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Hickory Grove is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Grove
- Lynn
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Lynn is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynn
- Mount Valley
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Mount Valley is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Valley
- Pea Ridge
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Pea Ridge is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pea Ridge
- Sandy Plains
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Sandy Plains is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Plains
- Sunny View
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Sunny View is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunny View
- Tryon
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Union Hill
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Union Hill is located in Henderson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill
How Far From Stearns to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Stearns to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Stearns and extending to:
- Columbus, which is the Seat of Polk County, lies just to the Southeast.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 203 miles [326.7 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Stearns to Raleigh, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 12 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 379 miles [609.9 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,277 miles [10,101.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,980 miles [11,233.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,857 miles [7,816.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
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 from Point A (ie- Stearns) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Stearns 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | 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 Stearns 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 Stearns. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.2726, Longitude: -82.2162 In this case, the coordinates for Stearns have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.021 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.476 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.032 degrees. |
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