RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Hancock County >> Dry Branch >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Dry Branch, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dry Branch 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 Dry Branch:
    • 36.565089, -83.147117
    • 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 Dry Branch
  • 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 Hancock County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hancock County
    • Since Dry Branch is near Hawkins County and also Harlan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hawkins County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harlan 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 Dry Branch

Communities Also Named Dry Branch ...

We found six communities that are also named Dry Branch.

Within Tennessee, the name Dry Branch is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Jenkins 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 Georgia community of Dry Branch [Jenkins County].
      • Twiggs County
      • This Dry Branch is located in Twiggs County and lies 260 miles [418.4 km]<2> to the south of the Dry Branch that is located in Hancock County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Twiggs County community of Dry Branch.
    • Missouri
      • Franklin 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 Missouri community of Dry Branch [Franklin County].
    • South Carolina
      • Aiken County
      • This Dry Branch is located in Aiken County and lies 230 miles [370.1 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Dry Branch that is located in Hancock County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Aiken County community of Dry Branch.
    • Virginia
      • Pulaski County
      • This Dry Branch is located in Pulaski County and lies 147 miles [236.6 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Dry Branch that is located in Hancock County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pulaski County community of Dry Branch.
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha County
      • This Dry Branch is located in Kanawha County and lies 144 miles [231.7 km]<2> to the northeast of the Dry Branch that is located in Hancock County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kanawha County community of Dry Branch.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dry Branch ...

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.

  • Chestnut Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Chestnut Grove is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Grove
  • Duck Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Duck Creek is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duck Creek
  • Fox Branch
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Fox Branch is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Branch
  • Friendship
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Friendship is located in Hawkins County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship
  • Frost Ford
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Frost Ford is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frost Ford
  • Kyles Ford
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Lee Valley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Lee Valley is located in Hawkins County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lee Valley
  • Livesay Mill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Livesay Mill is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Livesay Mill
  • Luther
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Luther is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luther
  • Rock Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Rock Hill is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Hill

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

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

  • Sneedville, which is the Seat of Hancock County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 203 miles [326.7 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Dry Branch 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 12 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 370 miles [595.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 6 hours, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 21 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,257 miles [10,069.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,968 miles [11,213.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,843 miles [7,794.1 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 Dry Branch 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>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 from Point A (ie- Dry Branch) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Dry Branch 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 Dry Branch. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.5651, Longitude: -83.1471       In this case, the coordinates for Dry Branch have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.587 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.312 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.046 degrees.