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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Islandford, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Islandford 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 Islandford:
    • 36.130630, -84.721611
    • 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 Islandford
  • 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 Morgan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Morgan County
    • Since Islandford is near Cumberland County and also Fentress County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cumberland County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fentress 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 Islandford

Curious and Interesting Names Near Islandford ...

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.

  • Deer Lodge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Deer Lodge is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Lodge
  • High Point
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • High Point is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Point
  • Holland Ford
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Holland Ford is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holland Ford
  • Howard Mill
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Howard Mill is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howard Mill
  • Lavender
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Lavender is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lavender
  • Nemo
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Nemo is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nemo
  • Pilot Mountain
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Pilot Mountain is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilot Mountain
  • Potter Ford
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Potter Ford is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Potter Ford
  • Shady Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Shady Grove is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove

How Far From Islandford 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 Islandford 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<1> community of Islandford once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Islandford and extending to:

  • Wartburg, which is the Seat of Morgan County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 114 miles [183.5 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Islandford to Nashville, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 462 miles [743.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 18 days and walking would take 27 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,342 miles [10,206.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,055 miles [11,353.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,931 miles [7,935.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Islandford, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Islandford) 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 Islandford 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 Islandford. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.1306, Longitude: -84.7216       In this case, the coordinates for Islandford have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.531 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.334 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.823 degrees.