RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Macon County >> Gap of the Ridge >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gap of the Ridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gap of the Ridge 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 Gap of the Ridge:
    • 36.526715, -86.111097
    • 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 Gap of the Ridge
  • 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 Macon County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Macon County
    • Since Gap of the Ridge is near Trousdale County and also Sumner County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Trousdale County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sumner 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 Gap of the Ridge

Communities Also Named Gap of the Ridge ...

We found one communities that are also named Gap of the Ridge.

Within Tennessee, the name Gap of the Ridge is unique.

Beyond Tennessee, there is another community also named Gap of the Ridge in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • West Virginia
      • Mercer 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 West Virginia community of Gap of the Ridge [Mercer County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gap of the Ridge ...

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.

  • Beech Bottom
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Beech Bottom is located in Macon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beech Bottom
  • Cedar Bluff
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedar Bluff is located in Macon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Bluff
  • Cross Lanes
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Cross Lanes is located in Macon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Lanes
  • Cross Roads
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Cross Roads is located in Macon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
  • Days Crossroads
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Days Crossroads is located in Macon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Days Crossroads
  • Frog Pond
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Frog Pond is located in Macon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frog Pond
  • Green Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Green Grove is located in Macon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Grove
  • Green Valley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Valley is located in Macon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
  • Halltown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Halltown is located in Trousdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halltown
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Haysville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Haysville is located in Macon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haysville
    • Long Creek
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Long Creek is located in Macon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Creek
    • Maple Grove
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Maple Grove is located in Macon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
    • New Harmony
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • New Harmony is located in Macon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Harmony
    • Pleasant Hill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Pleasant Hill is located in Macon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
    • Rocky Mound
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Rocky Mound is located in Macon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Mound

How Far From Gap of the Ridge to ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Gap of the Ridge and extending to:

  • Lafayette, which is the Seat of Macon County, lies just to the East.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 44 miles [70.8 km]<2> to the southwest (SW). If you could walk a straight line from Gap of the Ridge to Nashville, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 521 miles [838.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 21 days and walking would take 30 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,380 miles [10,267.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,098 miles [11,423.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,974 miles [8,004.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 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 Gap of the Ridge 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Gap of the Ridge) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Gap of the Ridge 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 Gap of the Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.5267, Longitude: -86.1111       In this case, the coordinates for Gap of the Ridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.394 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.381 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.312 degrees.