Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Steel, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Steel and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Steel
- 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 Steel:
- 35.678750, -80.455059
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Steel
- 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 Rowan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Rowan County
- Since Steel is near Davidson County and also Davie County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Davidson County
- eBird sighting report for Davie 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Steel ...
We found five communities that share the name Steel.
Within North Carolina, the name Steel is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, three are located in the United States and two are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near Steel ...
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.
- Cedarcrest
(Less than 2 miles to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedarcrest have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarcrest
- Cedarcrest is located in Rowan County
- Cross Heights
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cross Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Heights
- Cross Heights is located in Rowan County
- Eagle Heights
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eagle Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Heights
- Eagle Heights is located in Rowan County
- Franklin
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
- Franklin is located in Rowan County
- Grady Heights
(Less than 2 miles to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grady Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grady Heights
- Grady Heights is located in Rowan County
- Granite Quarry
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granite Quarry
- Granite Quarry is located in Rowan County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,002 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Granite Quarry <5>
- Holly Park
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holly Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Park
- Holly Park is located in Rowan County
- Lincoln Heights
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lincoln Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Heights
- Lincoln Heights is located in Rowan County
- Lockeland
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west) - Meadowbrook
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meadowbrook have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
- Meadowbrook is located in Rowan County
- Mirror Park
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mirror Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mirror Park
- Mirror Park is located in Rowan County
- Mocksville
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mocksville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mocksville
- Mocksville is located in Rowan County
- Continue List (6 more) ...
- Rolling Hills
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rolling Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Hills
- Rolling Hills is located in Rowan County
- Salisbury
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salisbury
- Salisbury is located in Rowan County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 33,821 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Salisbury <5>
- Sunrise Park
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunrise Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunrise Park
- Sunrise Park is located in Rowan County
- Timbercreek
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Timbercreek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timbercreek
- Timbercreek is located in Rowan County
- Trading Ford
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trading Ford
- Trading Ford is located in Rowan County
- Union Terrace
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Union Terrace have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Terrace
- Union Terrace is located in Rowan County
- Rolling Hills
How Far From Steel 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 Steel to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Steel once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Steel and extending to:
- Salisbury, which is the Seat of Rowan County, lies just to the Southwest.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 101 miles [162.5 km]<3> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Steel to Raleigh, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 290 miles [466.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,183 miles [9,950.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,883 miles [11,077.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,762 miles [7,663.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Rowan County: www.co.rowan.nc.us/
The official website for State of North Carolina: https://www.nc.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Steel, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Steel 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> | 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 from Point A (ie- Steel) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Steel. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.6788, Longitude: -80.4551 In this case, the coordinates for Steel have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Steel to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.996 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.36 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.215 degrees. |