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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Boom, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Boom 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 Boom:
    • 36.515898, -85.169679
    • 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 Boom
  • 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 Pickett County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pickett County
    • Since Boom is near Overton County and also Fentress County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Overton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fentress 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 Boom

Communities Also Named Boom ...

We found one communities that are also named Boom.

Within Tennessee, the name Boom is unique.

Beyond Tennessee, there is another community also named Boom in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Tuscaloosa 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 Alabama community of Boom [Tuscaloosa County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Boom ...

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.

  • Byrdstown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Cedar Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Pickett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Double Top
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Double Top is located in Fentress County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Double Top
  • Eagle Creek ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Eagle Creek is located in Overton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Creek
  • Free Communion
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Free Communion is located in Overton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Free Communion
  • Love Lady
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Love Lady is located in Pickett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Love Lady
  • Moodyville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Moodyville is located in Pickett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moodyville
  • Ozone
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Ozone is located in Overton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ozone
  • Plain Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Plain Grove is located in Pickett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plain Grove
  • Rocky Ridge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Rocky Ridge is located in Overton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ridge
  • Star Point
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Star Point is located in Pickett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Star Point
  • Sulphur Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Sulphur Springs is located in Pickett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sulphur Springs
  • Sunset
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Sunset is located in Pickett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset

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

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

  • Byrdstown, which is the Seat of Pickett County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 92 miles [148.1 km]<3> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from Boom to Nashville, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 473 miles [761.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 19 days and walking would take 27 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,342 miles [10,206.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,058 miles [11,358.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,933 miles [7,938.9 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 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 Boom 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 from Point A (ie- Boom) 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 Boom 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 Boom. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.5159, Longitude: -85.1697       In this case, the coordinates for Boom have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.814 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.713 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.912 degrees.