Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Swain, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Swain and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Swain
- 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 Swain:
- 35.916551, -76.627997
- 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 Swain
- 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 Washington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Washington County
- Since Swain is near Bertie County and also Chowan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Bertie County
- eBird sighting report for Chowan 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 Swain ...
We found eight communities that share the name Swain.
There is one other community in North Carolina which is also named Swain.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In North Carolina ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Kentucky
- Mississippi
- New Jersey
- New York
- Oregon
- South Carolina
Curious and Interesting Names Near Swain ...
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.
- Green Hill ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Hill
- Green Hill is located in Washington County
- Gregory Crossroads
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gregory Crossroads have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gregory Crossroads
- Gregory Crossroads is located in Bertie County
- Merry Hill
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Merry Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merry Hill
- Merry Hill is located in Bertie County
- Nixons Beach
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nixons Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nixons Beach
- Nixons Beach is located in Chowan County
- Pea Ridge
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pea Ridge
- Pea Ridge is located in Washington County
- Pine Ridge
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Ridge
- Pine Ridge is located in Washington County
- Pleasant Grove
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
- Pleasant Grove is located in Washington County
- Plymouth
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plymouth have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plymouth
- Plymouth is located in Washington County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,332 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Plymouth <4>
- Roper
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Roper have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roper
- Roper is located in Washington County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 533 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roper <4>
- Skinnersville
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skinnersville
- Skinnersville is located in Washington County
How Far From Swain 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 Swain 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<5> community of Swain once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Swain and extending to:
- Plymouth, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies just to the West Southwest.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 113 miles [181.9 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Swain to Raleigh, with an average speed<6>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 207 miles [333.1 km] to the north (N). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,006 miles [9,665.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,696 miles [10,776.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,580 miles [7,370.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Washington County: www.washingtoncountygov.com/
The official website for State of North Carolina: https://www.nc.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Swain 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. |
| <2> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Swain) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Swain. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.9166, Longitude: -76.6280 In this case, the coordinates for Swain have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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 Swain, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Swain 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 307.811 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.895 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.656 degrees. |