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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Holston, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Holston and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Holston:
    • 36.485936, -82.399031
    • 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 Holston
  • 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 Sullivan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sullivan County
    • Since Holston is near Washington County and also Carter County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Carter 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 Holston

Communities Also Named Holston ...

We found three communities that are also named Holston.

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

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

  • Communities Located In Tennessee ...
    • Grainger County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Holston [Grainger County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Virginia
      • Smyth 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 Virginia community of Holston [Smyth County].
      • Washington County
      • This Holston is located in Washington County and lies 26 miles [41.8 km]<3> to the northeast of the Holston that is located in Sullivan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Holston.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Holston ...

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.

  • Boring
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Boring is located in Sullivan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boring
  • Buffalo
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Buffalo is located in Sullivan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo
  • Fox Fire
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Fox Fire is located in Sullivan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Fire
  • Gross Crossroad
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Gross Crossroad is located in Sullivan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gross Crossroad
  • Gunnings
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Gunnings is located in Sullivan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gunnings
  • Hall Ford
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Hall Ford is located in Sullivan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hall Ford
  • Hemlock
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Hemlock is located in Sullivan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hemlock
  • Hemlock Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Hemlock Park is located in Sullivan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hemlock Park
  • Holiday Hills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Holiday Hills is located in Sullivan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hills
  • Indian Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Indian Hills is located in Sullivan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
  • Lake Crest
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Lake Crest is located in Sullivan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Crest
  • Mystic Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Mystic Valley is located in Sullivan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mystic Valley
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Oak Grove
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Oak Grove is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
    • Pettyjohn Mill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Pettyjohn Mill is located in Sullivan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pettyjohn Mill
    • Rock City
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Rock City is located in Sullivan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock City
    • Rocky Springs
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Rocky Springs is located in Sullivan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Springs
    • Royal Pines
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Royal Pines is located in Sullivan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Pines
    • Scenic Woods
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Scenic Woods is located in Sullivan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scenic Woods
    • Sunnyside
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Sunnyside is located in Sullivan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
    • Sunrise Valley
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Sunrise Valley is located in Sullivan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunrise Valley
    • Wahoo ‑ Historic
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Wahoo is located in Sullivan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wahoo

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

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

  • Blountville, which is the Seat of Sullivan County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 244 miles [392.7 km]<3> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Holston to Nashville, with an average speed<4>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 336 miles [540.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,229 miles [10,024.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,938 miles [11,165.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,814 miles [7,747.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Holston, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 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 Holston 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>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- Holston) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Holston 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 Holston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.4859, Longitude: -82.3990       In this case, the coordinates for Holston have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.138 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.786 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.759 degrees.