Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Bear, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bear and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Bear
- 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 Bear:
- 35.949244, -84.314369
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Bear
- 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 Roane County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Roane County
- Since Bear is near Anderson County and also Knox County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Anderson County
- eBird sighting report for Knox 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Bear ...
We found seven communities that share the name Bear.
Within Tennessee, the name Bear is unique.
Beyond Tennessee, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Garland County
- This Bear is located in Garland County and lies 514 miles [827.2 km]<1> to the west of the Bear that is located in Roane County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Garland County community of Bear.
- Montgomery 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 Arkansas community of Bear [Montgomery County].
- Delaware
- Idaho
- Louisiana
- Washington
Curious and Interesting Names Near Bear ...
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.
- Blair
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest) - Buttermilk Shores
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Buttermilk Shores have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buttermilk Shores
- Buttermilk Shores is located in Roane County
- Chestnut Hills
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chestnut Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Hills
- Chestnut Hills is located in Roane County
- Ethel ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest) - Gallagher Ferry
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gallagher Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gallagher Ferry
- Gallagher Ferry is located in Roane County
- Jonesville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jonesville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonesville
- Jonesville is located in Roane County
- Oliver Springs
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oliver Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oliver Springs
- Oliver Springs is located in Anderson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,439 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Oliver Springs <4>
- Orchard View
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Orchard View have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchard View
- Orchard View is located in Roane County
- Pawpaw Plains
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pawpaw Plains have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pawpaw Plains
- Pawpaw Plains is located in Roane County
- Continue List (6 more) ...
- Poplar
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north) - Robertsville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Robertsville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robertsville
- Robertsville is located in Anderson County
- Union
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest) - Wheat ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west) - Williams Ferry
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Williams Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams Ferry
- Williams Ferry is located in Loudon County
- Woodlawn
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Poplar
How Far From Bear 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 Bear to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<6> community of Bear once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Bear and extending to:
- Kingston, which is the Seat of Roane County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Bear to Kingston, with an average speed<7> 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.
- Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 138 miles [222.1 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 447 miles [719.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 18 days and walking would take 26 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,334 miles [10,193.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,045 miles [11,337.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,921 miles [7,919.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Roane County: www.roanealliance.org/
The official website for State of Tennessee: https://www.tn.gov/
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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Bear) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bear. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.9492, Longitude: -84.3144 In this case, the coordinates for Bear have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Bear 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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <6> | 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 Bear, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <7> | 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. |
| <8> | 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 Bear to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.281 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.02 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.701 degrees. |