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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Terra Cotta, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Terra Cotta and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Terra Cotta:
    • 36.063747, -79.867256
    • 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 Terra Cotta
  • 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 Guilford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Guilford County
    • Since Terra Cotta is near Forsyth County and also Randolph County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Forsyth County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Randolph 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 Terra Cotta

Communities Also Named Terra Cotta ...

We found eight communities that are also named Terra Cotta.

Within North Carolina, the name Terra Cotta is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Riverside County
      • This Terra Cotta is located in Riverside County and lies 2,117 miles [3,407 km]<1> to the west of the Terra Cotta that is located in Guilford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Riverside County community of Terra Cotta.
      • San Diego 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 California community of Terra Cotta [San Diego County].
    • Georgia
      • Bibb County
      • This Terra Cotta is located in Bibb County and lies 311 miles [500.5 km]<1> to the southwest of the Terra Cotta that is located in Guilford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bibb County community of Terra Cotta.
    • Illinois
      • McHenry County
      • This Terra Cotta is located in McHenry County and lies 622 miles [1,001 km]<1> to the northwest of the Terra Cotta that is located in Guilford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McHenry County community of Terra Cotta.
    • Kansas
      • Ellsworth County
      • This Terra Cotta is located in Ellsworth County and lies 1,007 miles [1,620.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Terra Cotta that is located in Guilford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ellsworth County community of Terra Cotta.
    • Missouri
      • Jackson 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 Missouri community of Terra Cotta [Jackson County].
    • Ontario
      • This Terra Cotta lies 528 miles [849.7 km]<1> to the north of the Terra Cotta that is located in Guilford County.
    • Utah
      • Salt 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 Utah community of Terra Cotta [Salt Lake County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Terra Cotta ...

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.

  • Forest Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Forest Valley is located in Guilford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Valley
  • Friendswood
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Friendswood is located in Guilford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendswood
  • Green Tree
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Green Tree is located in Guilford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Tree
  • Green Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Valley is located in Guilford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
  • Hilltop
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Hilltop is located in Guilford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Hunter Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Hunter Hills is located in Guilford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter Hills
  • Lake Daniel
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Lake Daniel is located in Guilford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Daniel
  • Oak Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Oak Grove is located in Guilford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Pennydale
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Pennydale is located in Guilford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pennydale
  • Random Woods
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Random Woods is located in Guilford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Random Woods
  • Rolling Roads
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Rolling Roads is located in Guilford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Roads
  • Spring Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Spring Valley is located in Guilford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
  • Sunset Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Sunset Hills is located in Guilford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Hills

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

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

  • Greensboro, which is the Seat of Guilford County, lies just to the East.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 71 miles [114.3 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Terra Cotta to Raleigh, with an average speed<3>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 4 days. 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 249 miles [400.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,141 miles [9,883 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,841 miles [11,009.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,720 miles [7,596.1 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Terra Cotta) 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 Terra Cotta 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 Terra Cotta 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 Terra Cotta. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.0637, Longitude: -79.8673       In this case, the coordinates for Terra Cotta have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.652 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.023 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.863 degrees.