RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> McMinn County >> New Bethel >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in New Bethel, we use the following websites to find information relevant to New Bethel 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 New Bethel:
    • 35.310906, -84.566877
    • 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 New Bethel
  • 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 McMinn County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McMinn County
    • Since New Bethel is near Polk County and also Monroe County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Polk County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe 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 New Bethel

Communities Also Named New Bethel ...

We found seven communities that are also named New Bethel.

There are two communities within Tennessee that are also named New Bethel.

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

  • Communities Located In Tennessee ...
    • Fayette County
      • This New Bethel is located in Fayette County and lies 280 miles [450.6 km]<1> to the west of the New Bethel that is located in McMinn County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of New Bethel.
    • Sullivan County
      • This New Bethel is located in Sullivan County and lies 145 miles [233.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the New Bethel that is located in McMinn County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sullivan County community of New Bethel.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Colbert County
      • This New Bethel is located in Colbert County and lies 188 miles [302.6 km]<1> to the west southwest of the New Bethel that is located in McMinn County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Colbert County community of New Bethel.
    • Indiana
      • Marion 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 Indiana community of New Bethel [Marion County].
    • Mississippi
      • Tishomingo County
      • This New Bethel is located in Tishomingo County and lies 215 miles [346 km]<1> to the west southwest of the New Bethel that is located in McMinn County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tishomingo County community of New Bethel.
    • North Carolina
      • Orange 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 North Carolina community of New Bethel [Orange County].
    • Texas
      • Jefferson County
      • Although located in Jefferson County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of New Bethel.

Curious and Interesting Names Near New Bethel ...

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.

  • Balltown
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Balltown is located in McMinn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Balltown
  • Carlock
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Carlock is located in McMinn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carlock
  • Dentville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Dentville is located in McMinn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dentville
  • Double Springs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Double Springs is located in McMinn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Double Springs
  • Goodsprings
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Goodsprings is located in McMinn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodsprings
  • Goosetown
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Goosetown is located in McMinn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goosetown
  • Grady
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Grady is located in McMinn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grady
  • Piney Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Piney Grove is located in McMinn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Grove
  • Seven Cedars
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Seven Cedars is located in McMinn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven Cedars
  • Yancey ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Yancey is located in McMinn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yancey

How Far From New Bethel to ...

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

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

  • Athens, which is the Seat of McMinn County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from New Bethel to Athens, 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 137 miles [220.5 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 482 miles [775.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 19 days and walking would take 28 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,374 miles [10,258 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,083 miles [11,399 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,960 miles [7,982.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- New Bethel) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 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 New Bethel 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>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 New Bethel 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 New Bethel. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.3109, Longitude: -84.5669       In this case, the coordinates for New Bethel have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.416 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.085 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.971 degrees.