RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Hamblen County >> Bluegrass >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Bluegrass, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bluegrass 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 Bluegrass:
    • 36.168702, -83.384061
    • 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 Bluegrass
  • 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 Hamblen County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hamblen County
    • Since Bluegrass is near Jefferson County and also Grainger County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grainger 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 Bluegrass

Communities Also Named Bluegrass ...

We found three communities that are also named Bluegrass.

Within Tennessee, the name Bluegrass is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Fulton 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 Indiana community of Bluegrass [Fulton County].
    • North Dakota
      • Morton 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 North Dakota community of Bluegrass [Morton County].
    • Virginia
      • Russell 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 Virginia community of Bluegrass [Russell County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Bluegrass ...

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.

  • Alpha
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Alpha is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpha
  • Fox Den
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Fox Den is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Den
  • Green Acres
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Green Acres is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Hunters Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Hunters Ridge is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Ridge
  • Kathy Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Kathy Hills is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kathy Hills
  • Meadowview
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Meadowview is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowview
  • Panther Creek ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Panther Creek is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panther Creek
  • Panther Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Panther Hills is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panther Hills
  • Panther Lake
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Panther Lake is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panther Lake
  • Pleasant view
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Pleasant view is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant view
  • Rambling Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Rambling Hills is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rambling Hills
  • Seven Oaks
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Seven Oaks is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven Oaks
  • Smokerise
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Smokerise is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smokerise
  • Willow Springs
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Willow Springs is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Springs

How Far From Bluegrass to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Bluegrass to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Bluegrass and extending to:

  • Morristown, which is the Seat of Hamblen County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 189 miles [304.2 km]<3> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Bluegrass to Nashville, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 395 miles [635.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,285 miles [10,114.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,995 miles [11,257.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,871 miles [7,839.1 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 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 Bluegrass 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>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 Bluegrass, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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- Bluegrass) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Bluegrass 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 Bluegrass. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.1687, Longitude: -83.3841       In this case, the coordinates for Bluegrass have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.725 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.413 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.256 degrees.