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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McMillan, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McMillan 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 McMillan:
    • 36.043695, -83.791292
    • 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 McMillan
  • 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 Knox County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Knox County
    • Since McMillan is near Jefferson County and also Grainger County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grainger 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 McMillan

Communities Also Named McMillan ...

We found twelve communities that are also named McMillan.

Within Tennessee, the name McMillan is unique.

Beyond Tennessee, we know of twelve communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these twelve communities, eleven are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Escambia 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 Florida community of McMillan [Escambia County].
    • Idaho
      • Twin Falls County
      • This McMillan is located in Twin Falls County and lies 1,687 miles [2,715 km]<2> to the west northwest of the McMillan that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Twin Falls County community of McMillan.
    • Michigan
      • Luce County
      • This McMillan is located in Luce County and lies 717 miles [1,153.9 km]<2> to the north of the McMillan that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Luce County community of McMillan.
    • Mississippi
      • Holmes County
      • This McMillan is located in Holmes County and lies 404 miles [650.2 km]<2> to the west southwest of the McMillan that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Holmes County community of McMillan.
      • Winston County
      • This McMillan is located in Winston County and lies 361 miles [581 km] to the west southwest of the McMillan that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Winston County community of McMillan.
    • North Carolina
      • Robeson County
      • This McMillan is located in Robeson County and lies 283 miles [455.4 km]<2> to the east southeast of the McMillan that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Robeson County community of McMillan.
    • Oklahoma
      • Marshall County
      • This McMillan is located in Marshall County and lies 754 miles [1,213.4 km]<2> to the west of the McMillan that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marshall County community of McMillan.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of McMillan.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Washington County
      • This McMillan is located in Washington County and lies 335 miles [539.1 km]<2> to the north northeast of the McMillan that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of McMillan.
    • Texas
      • San Saba County
      • This McMillan is located in San Saba County and lies 912 miles [1,467.7 km]<2> to the west southwest of the McMillan that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Saba County community of McMillan.
    • West Virginia
      • Preston 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 McMillan [Preston County].
    • Wisconsin
      • Marathon County
      • This McMillan is located in Marathon County and lies 687 miles [1,105.6 km]<2> to the north northwest of the McMillan that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marathon County community of McMillan.

Curious and Interesting Names Near McMillan ...

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.

  • Carter
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Carter is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carter
  • Highpoint ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Highpoint is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highpoint
  • John Sevier
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • John Sevier is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for John Sevier
  • Kings Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Kings Valley is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Valley
    • Estimated population in 2014: 5,835 people
  • Loveland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Loveland is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loveland
  • Mascot
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Mascot is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mascot
    • Population from the 2010 Census: 2,411 people
  • Mayo ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Mayo is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayo
    • Estimated population in 2014: 2,366 people
  • Oak Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Oak Grove is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Ruggles Ferry
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Ruggles Ferry is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruggles Ferry
  • Spring Place
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Spring Place is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Place
  • Sunrise
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Sunrise is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunrise
  • Three Points
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Three Points is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Points

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

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

  • Knoxville, which is the Seat of Knox County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from McMillan to Knoxville, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 166 miles [267.2 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 419 miles [674.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,308 miles [10,151.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,018 miles [11,294.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,894 miles [7,876.1 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 McMillan 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 '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- McMillan) 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 McMillan 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 McMillan. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.0437, Longitude: -83.7913       In this case, the coordinates for McMillan have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.967 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.673 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.459 degrees.