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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Topsy, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Topsy 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 Topsy:
    • 36.503486, -76.870793
    • 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 Topsy
  • 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 Topsy is near Hertford County and also Suffolk City, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hertford County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Suffolk City
  • 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 Topsy

Communities Also Named Topsy ...

We found five communities that are also named Topsy.

Within North Carolina, the name Topsy is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Lincoln 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 Kansas community of Topsy [Lincoln County].
    • Louisiana
      • Jefferson Davis Parish
      • This Topsy is located in Jefferson Davis Parish and lies 1,024 miles [1,648 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Topsy that is located in Gates County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson Davis Parish community of Topsy.
    • Missouri
      • Mercer County
      • This Topsy is located in Mercer County and lies 935 miles [1,504.7 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Topsy that is located in Gates County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mercer County community of Topsy.
    • Oklahoma
      • Delaware 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 Oklahoma community of Topsy [Delaware County].
    • Tennessee
      • Wayne County
      • This Topsy is located in Wayne County and lies 609 miles [980.1 km]<2> to the west of the Topsy that is located in Gates County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of Topsy.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Topsy ...

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.

  • Drum Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Drum Hill is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drum Hill
  • Eleanors Crossroads
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Eleanors Crossroads is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eleanors Crossroads
  • Factory Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Factory Hill is located in Suffolk City (VA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Factory Hill
  • Gates
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Mill Neck
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Mill Neck is located in Hertford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mill Neck
  • Mount Gallows
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Mount Gallows is located in Hertford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Gallows
  • Rays Beach
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Rays Beach is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rays Beach
  • Savages Crossroads
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Savages Crossroads is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savages Crossroads
  • Storys
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Storys is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Storys
  • Sweepstakes ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Sweepstakes is located in Southampton County (VA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweepstakes
  • Tarheel
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Tarheel is located in Gates County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tarheel

How Far From Topsy to ...

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

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

  • Gatesville, which is the Seat of Gates County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Topsy to Gatesville, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 110 miles [177 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 165 miles [265.5 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,992 miles [9,643.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,686 miles [10,760.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,567 miles [7,349.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 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 Topsy 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 from Point A (ie- Topsy) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Topsy 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 Topsy. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.5035, Longitude: -76.8708       In this case, the coordinates for Topsy have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.922 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.111 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.539 degrees.