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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Valhalla, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Valhalla 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 Valhalla:
    • 35.224836, -82.264560
    • 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 Valhalla
  • 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 Polk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Polk County
    • Since Valhalla is near Greenville County and also Henderson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greenville County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henderson 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 Valhalla

Communities Also Named Valhalla ...

We found ten communities that are also named Valhalla.

There is one other community in North Carolina that is also named Valhalla.

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

  • Communities Located In North Carolina ...
    • Chowan County
      • This Valhalla is located in Chowan County and lies 320 miles [515 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Valhalla that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chowan County community of Valhalla.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jefferson County
      • This Valhalla is located in Jefferson County and lies 292 miles [469.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Valhalla that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Valhalla.
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Valhalla is located in Hillsborough County and lies 505 miles [812.7 km]<1> to the south of the Valhalla that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Valhalla.
      • Monroe County
      • This Valhalla is located in Monroe County and lies 727 miles [1,170 km] to the south of the Valhalla that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monroe County community of Valhalla.
    • Kansas
      • Gove 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 Kansas community of Valhalla [Gove County].
    • Manitoba
      • This Valhalla lies 1,302 miles [2,095.4 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Valhalla that is located in Polk County.
    • New York
      • Westchester County
      • This Valhalla is located in Westchester County and lies 612 miles [984.9 km]<1> to the northeast of the Valhalla that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Westchester County community of Valhalla.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Potter County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Potter County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Potter County community of Valhalla.
    • Virginia
      • Stafford County
      • This Valhalla is located in Stafford County and lies 337 miles [542.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Valhalla that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stafford County community of Valhalla.
    • Washington
      • King 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 Washington community of Valhalla [King County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Valhalla ...

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.

  • Burnt Chimney Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Butt Mountain
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Butt Mountain is located in Henderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butt Mountain
  • Chestnut Springs
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Chestnut Springs is located in Greenville County (SC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Springs
  • Columbus
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Five Oaks
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Five Oaks is located in Spartanburg County (SC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Oaks
  • Five Points
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Five Points is located in Henderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Glassy
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Glassy is located in Greenville County (SC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glassy
  • Lynn
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Lynn is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynn
  • Mount Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Mount Valley is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Valley
  • Mountain Page
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Mountain Page is located in Henderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Page
  • Tryon
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Upward
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Upward is located in Henderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upward

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

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

  • Columbus, which is the Seat of Polk County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 207 miles [333.1 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Valhalla 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 12 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 383 miles [616.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,281 miles [10,108.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,984 miles [11,239.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,862 miles [7,824.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Valhalla) 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 Valhalla 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>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 Valhalla, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Valhalla 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 Valhalla. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.2248, Longitude: -82.2646       In this case, the coordinates for Valhalla have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.049 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.501 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.065 degrees.