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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Woolsey, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Woolsey 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 Woolsey:
    • 35.619278, -82.555960
    • 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 Woolsey
  • 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 Buncombe County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Buncombe County
    • Since Woolsey is near Henderson County and also Madison County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henderson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison 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 Woolsey

Communities Also Named Woolsey ...

We found eight communities that are also named Woolsey.

Within North Carolina, the name Woolsey is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Washington County
      • This Woolsey is located in Washington County and lies 650 miles [1,046.1 km]<1> to the west of the Woolsey that is located in Buncombe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Woolsey.
    • California
      • Sonoma County
      • This Woolsey is located in Sonoma County and lies 2,210 miles [3,556.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Woolsey that is located in Buncombe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sonoma County community of Woolsey.
    • Florida
      • Escambia County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Escambia County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Escambia County community of Woolsey.
    • Georgia
      • Fayette County
      • This Woolsey is located in Fayette County and lies 188 miles [302.6 km]<1> to the southwest of the Woolsey that is located in Buncombe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Woolsey.
    • Nevada
      • Humboldt County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nevada community of Woolsey [Humboldt County].
      • Pershing County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nevada community of Woolsey [Pershing County].
    • New York
      • Queens County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New York community of Woolsey [Queens County].
    • Virginia
      • Prince William County
      • This Woolsey is located in Prince William County and lies 351 miles [564.9 km]<1> to the northeast of the Woolsey that is located in Buncombe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Prince William County community of Woolsey.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Woolsey ...

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.

  • Camelot
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Camelot is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camelot
  • Craggy
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Craggy is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craggy
  • Dogwood Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Dogwood Grove is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dogwood Grove
  • Echo Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Echo Hills is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo Hills
  • Elk Mountain
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Elk Mountain is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Mountain
  • Emma
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Emma is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emma
  • Grace
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Grace is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grace
  • Happy Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Happy Valley is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Happy Valley
  • Haw Creek
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Haw Creek is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haw Creek
  • Hazel Green
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Hazel Green is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazel Green
  • Mountainbrook
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Mountainbrook is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountainbrook
  • Murphy Junction
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Murphy Junction is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murphy Junction
  • Rolling Green
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Rolling Green is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Green
  • Spring Time
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Spring Time is located in Buncombe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Time

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

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

  • Asheville, which is the Seat of Buncombe County, lies just to the South.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 219 miles [352.4 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Woolsey to Raleigh, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 13 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 378 miles [608.3 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,275 miles [10,098.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,981 miles [11,234.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,858 miles [7,818.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Woolsey) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Woolsey, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Woolsey 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.
<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 Woolsey 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 Woolsey. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.6193, Longitude: -82.5560       In this case, the coordinates for Woolsey have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.225 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.76 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.071 degrees.