Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Hillis, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hillis and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Hillis
- 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 Hillis:
- 35.728680, -85.622201
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Hillis
- 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 Warren County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Warren County
- Since Hillis is near Van Buren County and also White County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Van Buren County
- eBird sighting report for White 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Hillis ...
We found two communities that share the name Hillis.
Within Tennessee, the name Hillis is unique.
Beyond Tennessee, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Georgia
- New York
Curious and Interesting Names Near Hillis ...
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.
- Bone Cave
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bone Cave
- Bone Cave is located in Van Buren County
- Campaign
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campaign
- Campaign is located in Warren County
- Cedar Grove
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
- Cedar Grove is located in Van Buren County
- Fall City
(5 miles [8 km] to the north) - Goodbars
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast) - Groves ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest) - Harmony
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east) - Riverview
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast) - Rock Island
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rock Island have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Island
- Rock Island is located in Warren County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rock Island <3>
- Shady Rest
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shady Rest have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Rest
- Shady Rest is located in Warren County
- Union
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
How Far From Hillis 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 Hillis 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 Hillis once stood, the straight-line distance<5> beginning in Hillis and extending to:
- McMinnville, which is the Seat of Warren County, lies just to the West Southwest.
- Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 71 miles [114.3 km]<5> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Hillis to Nashville, with an average speed<6>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 4 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 519 miles [835.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 21 days and walking would take 30 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,398 miles [10,296.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,112 miles [11,445.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,987 miles [8,025.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Tennessee: https://www.tn.gov/
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 Hillis 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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <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 Hillis, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <5> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Hillis) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Hillis. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.7287, Longitude: -85.6222 In this case, the coordinates for Hillis have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Hillis to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.068 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.893 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.303 degrees. |