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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Buncombe, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Buncombe 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 Buncombe:
    • 35.325080, -86.083319
    • 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 Buncombe
  • 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 Franklin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin County
    • Since Buncombe is near Coffee County and also Grundy County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Coffee County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grundy 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 Buncombe

Communities Also Named Buncombe ...

We found six communities that are also named Buncombe.

There is one other community in Tennessee that is also named Buncombe.

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

  • Communities Located In Tennessee ...
    • Sullivan County
      • This Buncombe is located in Sullivan County and lies 225 miles [362.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Buncombe that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sullivan County community of Buncombe.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Johnson County
      • This Buncombe is located in Johnson County and lies 218 miles [350.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Buncombe that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Johnson County community of Buncombe.
    • Iowa
      • Dubuque 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 Iowa community of Buncombe [Dubuque County].
    • Kentucky
      • Knott 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 Kentucky community of Buncombe [Knott County].
    • Louisiana
      • Caddo Parish
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Buncombe [Caddo Parish].
    • Wisconsin
      • Lafayette 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 Wisconsin community of Buncombe [Lafayette County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Buncombe ...

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.

  • Asia
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Asia is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asia
  • Black Jack
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Black Jack is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Jack
  • Bobs Cross Roads ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Bobs Cross Roads is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bobs Cross Roads
  • Calls
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Calls is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calls
  • Dixie ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Dixie is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixie
  • Gum Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Gum Creek is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gum Creek
  • Johnstown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Johnstown is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnstown
  • Oak Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Oak Grove is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Plainview Heights
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Plainview Heights is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainview Heights
  • Pleasant Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Prairie Plains
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Prairie Plains is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Plains
  • Ruthledge Ford
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Ruthledge Ford is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruthledge Ford
    • Estimated population in 2014: 1,116 people
  • Shady Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Shady Grove is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove

How Far From Buncombe 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 Buncombe 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 community of Buncombe once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Buncombe and extending to:

  • Winchester, which is the Seat of Franklin County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Buncombe to Winchester, with an average speed<4> 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 69 miles [111 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 555 miles [893.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 22 days and walking would take 32 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,436 miles [10,357.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,150 miles [11,506.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,025 miles [8,087 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Buncombe) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Buncombe 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>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 Buncombe, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Buncombe 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 Buncombe. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.3251, Longitude: -86.0833       In this case, the coordinates for Buncombe have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.334 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.143 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.594 degrees.