RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Knox County >> Blue Grass >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Blue Grass, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blue Grass 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 Blue Grass:
    • 35.864803, -84.059632
    • 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 Blue Grass
  • 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 Knox County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Knox County
    • Since Blue Grass is near Blount County and also Loudon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Blount County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Loudon 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 Blue Grass

Communities Also Named Blue Grass ...

We found eight communities that are also named Blue Grass.

Within Tennessee, the name Blue Grass is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Vermilion County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Blue Grass [Vermilion County].
    • Iowa
      • Scott County
      • This Blue Grass is located in Scott County and lies 531 miles [854.6 km]<2> to the northwest of the Blue Grass that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Scott County community of Blue Grass.
    • Kentucky
      • Fayette 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 Kentucky community of Blue Grass [Fayette County].
      • Madison County
      • This Blue Grass is located in Madison County and lies 137 miles [220.5 km]<2> to the north of the Blue Grass that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Blue Grass.
    • Minnesota
      • Wadena County
      • This Blue Grass is located in Wadena County and lies 929 miles [1,495.1 km]<2> to the northwest of the Blue Grass that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wadena County community of Blue Grass.
    • Oklahoma
      • Beaver 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 Oklahoma community of Blue Grass [Beaver County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia County
      • This Blue Grass is located in Philadelphia County and lies 570 miles [917.3 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Blue Grass that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Philadelphia County community of Blue Grass.
    • Virginia
      • Highland County
      • This Blue Grass is located in Highland County and lies 307 miles [494.1 km]<2> to the northeast of the Blue Grass that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Highland County community of Blue Grass.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Blue Grass ...

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.

  • Cactus Cove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Cactus Cove is located in Blount County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cactus Cove
  • Cedar Springs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedar Springs is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Springs
  • Ebenezer
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Ebenezer is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ebenezer
  • Echo Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Echo Valley is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo Valley
  • Fox Fire
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Fox Fire is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Fire
  • Galewood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Galewood is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galewood
  • Henrys Ferry
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Henrys Ferry is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henrys Ferry
  • Hickory Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hickory Hills is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Hills
  • Lakeview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Lakeview is located in Blount County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Louisville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Mentor
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Mentor is located in Blount County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mentor
  • Pine Springs
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Pine Springs is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Springs
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Pumpkin Center
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Pumpkin Center is located in Blount County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumpkin Center
    • Rocky Hill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Rocky Hill is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Hill
    • Suburban Hills
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Suburban Hills is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Suburban Hills
    • Ten Mile
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Ten Mile is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ten Mile

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

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

  • Knoxville, which is the Seat of Knox County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Blue Grass to Knoxville, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 153 miles [246.2 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 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 438 miles [704.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 18 days and walking would take 25 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,327 miles [10,182.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,037 miles [11,325 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,913 miles [7,906.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Blue Grass, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Blue Grass) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Blue Grass 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Blue Grass 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 Blue Grass. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.8648, Longitude: -84.0596       In this case, the coordinates for Blue Grass have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.125 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.829 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.618 degrees.