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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 Volunteer, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Volunteer 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 Volunteer:
- 36.367916, -80.419778
- 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 Volunteer
- 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 Stokes County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Stokes County
- Since Volunteer is near Surry County and also Forsyth County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Surry County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Forsyth 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 Volunteer
Communities Also Named Volunteer ...
We found two communities that are also named Volunteer.
Within North Carolina, the name Volunteer is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- South Dakota
- Lawrence 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 South Dakota community of Volunteer [Lawrence County].
- Meade County
- This Volunteer is located in Meade County and lies 1,313 miles [2,113.1 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Volunteer that is located in Stokes County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Meade County community of Volunteer.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Volunteer ...
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.
- Cedar Hill
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Cedar Hill is located in Surry County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Hill
- Chestnut Grove
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Chestnut Grove is located in Stokes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Grove
- Flat Rock
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Flat Rock is located in Stokes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Rock
- Flat Shoals ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Flat Shoals is located in Surry County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Shoals
- Heritage Village
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Heritage Village is located in Forsyth County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Village
- Hills Grove
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Hills Grove is located in Surry County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hills Grove
- King
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Long Hill
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Long Hill is located in Surry County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Hill
- Mountain View
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Mountain View is located in Stokes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View
- Pilot Mountain
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Pinnacle
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Poplar Springs
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Poplar Springs is located in Stokes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Springs
- Quaker Gap
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Quaker Gap is located in Stokes County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quaker Gap
- Shoals
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Shoals is located in Surry County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoals
How Far From Volunteer 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 Volunteer to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Volunteer and extending to:
- Danbury, which is the Seat of Stokes County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Volunteer to Danbury, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 107 miles [172.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 254 miles [408.8 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,151 miles [9,899.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,854 miles [11,030.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,732 miles [7,615.4 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 Volunteer 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Volunteer) 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 Volunteer 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 Volunteer. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.3679, Longitude: -80.4198 In this case, the coordinates for Volunteer have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.97 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.431 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.988 degrees. |
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