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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Woodcroft, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Woodcroft 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 Woodcroft:
    • 35.920979, -78.952509
    • 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 Woodcroft
  • 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 Durham County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Durham County
    • Since Woodcroft is near Orange County and also Wake County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orange County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wake 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 Woodcroft

Communities Also Named Woodcroft ...

We found two communities that are also named Woodcroft.

Within North Carolina, the name Woodcroft is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Pueblo 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 Colorado community of Woodcroft [Pueblo County].
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore County
      • This Woodcroft is located in Baltimore County and lies 273 miles [439.4 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Woodcroft that is located in Durham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baltimore County community of Woodcroft.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Woodcroft ...

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
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedar Hill is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Hill
  • Chapel Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Colony Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Colony Park is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colony Park
  • Coventry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Coventry is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coventry
  • Davie Circle
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Davie Circle is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davie Circle
  • Falconbridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Falconbridge is located in Durham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falconbridge
  • Few
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Few is located in Durham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Few
  • Five Oaks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Five Oaks is located in Durham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Oaks
  • Greenwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Greenwood is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Hickory Oaks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Hickory Oaks is located in Durham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Oaks
  • Hidden Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Hidden Hills is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidden Hills
  • Lake Ellen
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Lake Ellen is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Ellen
  • Pine Knob
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Pine Knob is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Knob

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

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

  • Durham, which is the Seat of Durham County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<2> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could walk a straight line from Woodcroft to Raleigh, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 230 miles [370.1 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,108 miles [9,829.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,804 miles [10,950 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,685 miles [7,539.8 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Woodcroft 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Woodcroft) 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 Woodcroft 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 Woodcroft. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.9210, Longitude: -78.9525       In this case, the coordinates for Woodcroft have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.128 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.401 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.549 degrees.