RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of North Carolina >> Jackson County >> Willits - Ochre Hill >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Willits - Ochre Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Willits - Ochre Hill 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 Willits - Ochre Hill:
    • 35.401768, -83.127365
    • 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 Willits - Ochre Hill
  • 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 Jackson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Since Willits - Ochre Hill is near Haywood County and also Swain County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Haywood County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Swain 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 Willits - Ochre Hill

Curious and Interesting Names Near Willits - Ochre Hill ...

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.

  • Clark
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Clark is located in Haywood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clark
  • Fallcliff
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Fallcliff is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fallcliff
  • Fisher Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Fisher Creek is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisher Creek
  • Greens Creek
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Greens Creek is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greens Creek
  • Indian Place
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Indian Place is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Place
  • Love Field
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Love Field is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Love Field
  • Maggie Valley
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Paint Town
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Paint Town is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paint Town
  • Rich Mountain
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Rich Mountain is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rich Mountain
  • Ruby City
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Ruby City is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruby City
  • Speedwell
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Speedwell is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Speedwell

How Far From Willits - Ochre Hill 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 Willits - Ochre Hill to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Willits - Ochre Hill and extending to:

  • Sylva, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 253 miles [407.2 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Willits - Ochre Hill to Raleigh, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 15 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 412 miles [663 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,309 miles [10,153.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,015 miles [11,289.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,892 miles [7,872.9 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Willits - Ochre Hill) 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 Willits - Ochre Hill 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 Willits - Ochre Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.4018, Longitude: -83.1274       In this case, the coordinates for Willits - Ochre Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.56 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.114 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.362 degrees.