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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Turkey, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Turkey 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 Turkey:
    • 34.995119, -78.184329
    • 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 Turkey
  • 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 Sampson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sampson County
    • Since Turkey is near Duplin County and also Wayne County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Duplin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wayne 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 Turkey

Communities Also Named Turkey ...

We found eight communities that are also named Turkey.

Within North Carolina, the name Turkey is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Marion County
      • This Turkey is located in Marion County and lies 822 miles [1,322.9 km]<1> to the west of the Turkey that is located in Sampson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Turkey.
    • Kentucky
      • Breathitt County
      • This Turkey is located in Breathitt County and lies 342 miles [550.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Turkey that is located in Sampson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Breathitt County community of Turkey.
    • Michigan
      • Wayne 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 Michigan community of Turkey [Wayne County].
    • New Jersey
      • Monmouth 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 New Jersey community of Turkey [Monmouth County].
    • Ohio
      • Highland County
      • This Turkey is located in Highland County and lies 405 miles [651.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Turkey that is located in Sampson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Highland County community of Turkey.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Clarion 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 Pennsylvania community of Turkey [Clarion County].
    • Texas
      • Hall County
      • This Turkey is located in Hall County and lies 1,287 miles [2,071.2 km]<1> to the west of the Turkey that is located in Sampson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hall County community of Turkey.
    • West Virginia
      • Wyoming County
      • This Turkey is located in Wyoming County and lies 262 miles [421.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Turkey that is located in Sampson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wyoming County community of Turkey.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Turkey ...

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.

  • Baltic
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Baltic is located in Duplin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baltic
  • Basstown
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Basstown is located in Sampson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Basstown
  • Bonnetsville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Bonnetsville is located in Sampson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonnetsville
  • Butlers Crossroads
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Butlers Crossroads is located in Sampson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butlers Crossroads
  • Calypso
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Calypso is located in Duplin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calypso
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 528 people
  • Friendship
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Friendship is located in Duplin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship
  • Hatcher
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Hatcher is located in Sampson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hatcher
  • Magnolia
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Magnolia is located in Duplin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 951 people
  • Moltonville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Moltonville is located in Sampson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moltonville
  • Piney Ridge
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Piney Ridge is located in Sampson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Ridge
  • Poplar Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Poplar Grove is located in Sampson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Grove

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

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

  • Clinton, which is the Seat of Sampson County, lies just to the West.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 60 miles [96.6 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from Turkey 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 276 miles [444.2 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,114 miles [9,839.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,804 miles [10,950 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,688 miles [7,544.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Turkey) 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 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 Turkey 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 Turkey 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 Turkey. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.9951, Longitude: -78.1843       In this case, the coordinates for Turkey have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.711 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.788 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.557 degrees.