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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Tarboro, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Tarboro 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 Tarboro:
    • 35.902261, -77.53782
    • 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 Tarboro
  • 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 Edgecombe County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Edgecombe County
    • Since Tarboro is near Pitt County and also Halifax County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pitt County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Halifax 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 Tarboro

Communities Also Named Tarboro ...

We found three communities that are also named Tarboro.

Within North Carolina, the name Tarboro is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Camden County
      • This Tarboro is located in Camden County and lies 417 miles [671.1 km]<1> to the southwest of the Tarboro that is located in Edgecombe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Camden County community of Tarboro.
    • South Carolina
      • Hampton 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 South Carolina community of Tarboro [Hampton County].
      • Jasper County
      • This Tarboro is located in Jasper County and lies 311 miles [500.5 km]<1> to the southwest of the Tarboro that is located in Edgecombe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jasper County community of Tarboro.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Tarboro ...

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.

  • Deans Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Deans Heights is located in Edgecombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deans Heights
  • Henrietta
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Henrietta is located in Edgecombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henrietta
  • Hope Lodge
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Logsboro
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Logsboro is located in Edgecombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Logsboro
  • Mildred
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Mildred is located in Edgecombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mildred
  • Pine Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Pine Ridge is located in Edgecombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Ridge
  • Piney Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Piney Grove is located in Edgecombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Grove
  • Princeville
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Woodgreen
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Woodgreen is located in Edgecombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodgreen

How Far From Tarboro to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a town such as Tarboro to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 62 miles [99.8 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could walk a straight line from Tarboro to Raleigh, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 208 miles [334.7 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,047 miles [9,731.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,739 miles [10,845.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,622 miles [7,438.4 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 from Point A (ie- Tarboro) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Tarboro 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 Tarboro 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 Tarboro. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.9023, Longitude: -77.5378    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.323 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.479 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.008 degrees.