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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Valdese, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Valdese 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 Valdese:
- 35.743380, -81.562645
- 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 Valdese
- 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 Burke County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Burke County
- Since Valdese is near Caldwell County and also Catawba County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Caldwell County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Catawba 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 Valdese
Curious and Interesting Names Near Valdese ...
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.
- Cloverdale
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Cloverdale is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
- Copenhagen ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Copenhagen is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copenhagen
- Drowning Creek ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Drowning Creek is located in Burke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drowning Creek
- Enola
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Flat Gap
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Flat Gap is located in Burke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Gap
- Gamewell
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Gamewell Heights
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Gamewell Heights is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gamewell Heights
- Granite Falls
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Hartland
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Hartland is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartland
- Henry River
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Henry River is located in Burke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henry River
- Hickory Grove ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Hickory Grove is located in Burke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Grove
- Lovelady ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Lovelady is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lovelady
- Continue List (8 more) ...
- Magnolia
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Magnolia is located in Burke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
- Pineburr
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Pineburr is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pineburr
- Pleasant Grove
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Pleasant Grove is located in Burke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
- Pumpkin Center
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Pumpkin Center is located in Burke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumpkin Center
- Sawmills
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Sawmills is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawmills
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,156 people
- Smokey Creek
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Smokey Creek is located in Caldwell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smokey Creek
- Sunnyside
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Sunnyside is located in Burke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
- Yellow Gap
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
How Far From Valdese 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 town such as Valdese to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Valdese and extending to:
- Morganton, which is the Seat of Burke County, lies just to the West.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 163 miles [262.3 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Valdese to Raleigh, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 330 miles [531.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,228 miles [10,023 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,931 miles [11,154.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,809 miles [7,739.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Valdese) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Valdese 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 Valdese. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.7434, Longitude: -81.5626 |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.641 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.109 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.636 degrees. |
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