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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Three Mile, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Three Mile 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 Three Mile:
    • 35.985127, -81.978448
    • 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 Three Mile
  • 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 Avery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Avery County
    • Since Three Mile is near Burke County and also Mitchell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Burke County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mitchell 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 Three Mile

Communities Also Named Three Mile ...

We found three communities that are also named Three Mile.

Within North Carolina, the name Three Mile is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Greenup County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Three Mile [Greenup County].
    • Montana
      • Ravalli County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Ravalli County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ravalli County community of Three Mile.
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha County
      • This Three Mile is located in Kanawha County and lies 171 miles [275.2 km]<3> to the north of the Three Mile that is located in Avery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kanawha County community of Three Mile.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Three Mile ...

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.

  • Beech Bottom
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Beech Bottom is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beech Bottom
  • Carpenter Bottom
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Carpenter Bottom is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carpenter Bottom
  • Chestnut Dale
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Chestnut Dale is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Dale
  • Cold Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Cold Springs is located in Burke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Springs
  • Frank
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Frank is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frank
  • Greene Cove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Greene Cove is located in Mitchell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greene Cove
  • Hawk
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Hawk is located in Mitchell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawk
  • Hughes
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Hughes is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hughes
  • Jonas Ridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Montezuma
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Montezuma is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montezuma
  • Mount Pleasant
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Newland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Normanville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Normanville is located in Mitchell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Normanville
    • Plumtree
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Roaring Creek
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Roaring Creek is located in Avery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roaring Creek
    • Spear
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Spear is located in Avery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spear
    • Spruce Pine
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Valley
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Valley is located in Avery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley
    • Wisemans View
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Wisemans View is located in Burke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wisemans View

How Far From Three Mile 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 community such as Three Mile to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Newland, which is the Seat of Avery County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 187 miles [300.9 km]<3> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Three Mile to Raleigh, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 337 miles [542.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 20 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,234 miles [10,032.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,940 miles [11,168.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,817 miles [7,752.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 Three Mile 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>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 Three Mile, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Three Mile) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Three Mile 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 Three Mile. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.9851, Longitude: -81.9784       In this case, the coordinates for Three Mile have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.887 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.425 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.733 degrees.