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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sunbury, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sunbury 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 Sunbury:
    • 36.440987, -76.611617
    • 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 Sunbury
  • 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 Gates County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gates County
    • Since Sunbury is near Chowan County and also Perquimans County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chowan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Perquimans 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 Sunbury

Communities Also Named Sunbury ...

We found ten communities that are also named Sunbury.

Within North Carolina, the name Sunbury is unique.

Beyond North Carolina, we know of ten communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these ten communities, seven are located in the United States and three are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • British Columbia
      • This Sunbury lies 2,463 miles [3,963.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Sunbury that is located in Gates County.
    • Georgia
      • Liberty County
      • This Sunbury is located in Liberty County and lies 418 miles [672.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Sunbury that is located in Gates County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Liberty County community of Sunbury.
    • Illinois
      • Livingston County
      • This Sunbury is located in Livingston County and lies 716 miles [1,152.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Sunbury that is located in Gates County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Livingston County community of Sunbury.
    • Iowa
      • Cedar County
      • This Sunbury is located in Cedar County and lies 847 miles [1,363.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Sunbury that is located in Gates County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cedar County community of Sunbury.
    • New Brunswick
      • This Sunbury lies 862 miles [1,387.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Sunbury that is located in Gates County.
    • New Jersey
      • Burlington 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 Jersey community of Sunbury [Burlington County].
    • Ohio
      • Delaware County
      • This Sunbury is located in Delaware County and lies 427 miles [687.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Sunbury that is located in Gates County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Delaware County community of Sunbury.
      • Montgomery County
      • This Sunbury is located in Montgomery County and lies 475 miles [764.4 km] to the west northwest of the Sunbury that is located in Gates County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Sunbury.
    • Ontario
      • This Sunbury lies 548 miles [881.9 km]<1> to the north of the Sunbury that is located in Gates County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Northumberland County
      • This Sunbury is located in Northumberland County and lies 305 miles [490.8 km]<1> to the north of the Sunbury that is located in Gates County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Northumberland County community of Sunbury.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sunbury ...

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.

  • Flat Branch
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Flat Branch is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Branch
  • Folly Fork
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Folly Fork is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Folly Fork
  • Greens Fork
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Greens Fork is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greens Fork
  • Hobbsville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Hobbsville is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobbsville
  • Holly Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Holly Grove is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Grove
  • Joppa
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Joppa is located in Chowan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joppa
  • Kellogs Fork
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Kellogs Fork is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellogs Fork
  • Keys Crossroads
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Keys Crossroads is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keys Crossroads
  • Mitchells Fork
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Mitchells Fork is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mitchells Fork
  • Muddy Cross
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Muddy Cross is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muddy Cross
  • Sandy Cross
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Sandy Cross is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Cross
  • Savage
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Savage is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savage
  • Silver Springs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Silver Springs is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Springs
  • Trotville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Trotville is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trotville

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

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

  • Gatesville, which is the Seat of Gates County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 122 miles [196.3 km]<1> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from Sunbury to Raleigh, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 171 miles [275.2 km] to the north (N). Driving would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,983 miles [9,628.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,676 miles [10,744 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,558 miles [7,335.4 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- Sunbury) 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 Sunbury 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 Sunbury 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 Sunbury. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.4410, Longitude: -76.6116       In this case, the coordinates for Sunbury have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.778 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.937 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.461 degrees.