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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Fordville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fordville 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 Fordville:
    • 36.093719, -82.476806
    • 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 Fordville
  • 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 Unicoi County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Unicoi County
    • Since Fordville is near Mitchell County and also Washington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mitchell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington 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 Fordville

Communities Also Named Fordville ...

We found six communities that are also named Fordville.

Within Tennessee, the name Fordville is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Pinal County
      • This Fordville is located in Pinal County and lies 1,618 miles [2,603.9 km]<1> to the west of the Fordville that is located in Unicoi County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pinal County community of Fordville.
    • Florida
      • Sarasota County
      • This Fordville is located in Sarasota County and lies 604 miles [972 km]<1> to the south of the Fordville that is located in Unicoi County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sarasota County community of Fordville.
    • Michigan
      • Schoolcraft 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 Michigan community of Fordville [Schoolcraft County].
    • New Jersey
      • Cumberland County
      • This Fordville is located in Cumberland County and lies 460 miles [740.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Fordville that is located in Unicoi County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cumberland County community of Fordville.
    • North Dakota
      • Walsh County
      • This Fordville is located in Walsh County and lies 1,142 miles [1,837.9 km]<1> to the northwest of the Fordville that is located in Unicoi County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Walsh County community of Fordville.
    • Pennsylvania
      • York County
      • This Fordville is located in York County and lies 403 miles [648.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Fordville that is located in Unicoi County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the York County community of Fordville.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fordville ...

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.

  • Bumpus Cove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Bumpus Cove is located in Unicoi County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bumpus Cove
    • Estimated population in 2014: 729 people
  • Clear Branch
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Clear Branch is located in Unicoi County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Branch
    • Former name for Clear Branch:
    • Kittyton
  • Coffee Ridge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Coffee Ridge is located in Unicoi County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coffee Ridge
  • Erwin
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Indian Creek ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Indian Creek is located in Unicoi County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Creek
  • Lillydale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Lillydale is located in Unicoi County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lillydale
  • Lost Cove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Lost Cove is located in Mitchell County (NC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost Cove
  • Love Station
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Love Station is located in Unicoi County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Love Station
  • Riverview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Riverview is located in Unicoi County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
  • Rocky Fork
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Rocky Fork is located in Unicoi County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Fork
  • Shallowford
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Shallowford is located in Unicoi County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shallowford
  • Temple Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Temple Hill is located in Unicoi County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temple Hill

How Far From Fordville to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Fordville 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<4> community of Fordville once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Fordville and extending to:

  • Erwin, which is the Seat of Unicoi County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 239 miles [384.6 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Fordville to Nashville, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 14 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 355 miles [571.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 21 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,250 miles [10,058.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,957 miles [11,196.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,834 miles [7,779.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Fordville) 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 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 Fordville 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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 Fordville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Fordville 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 Fordville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.0937, Longitude: -82.4768       In this case, the coordinates for Fordville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.182 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.78 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.904 degrees.