RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Hamilton County >> Northern Hills >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Northern Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Northern Hills 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 Northern Hills:
    • 35.145071, -85.242735
    • 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 Northern Hills
  • 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 Hamilton County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hamilton County
    • Since Northern Hills is near Sequatchie County and also Marion County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sequatchie County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marion 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 Northern Hills

Communities Also Named Northern Hills ...

We found three communities that are also named Northern Hills.

Within Tennessee, the name Northern Hills is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Pima 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 Arizona community of Northern Hills [Pima County].
    • Kansas
      • Shawnee 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 Kansas community of Northern Hills [Shawnee County].
    • Utah
      • Davis County
      • This Northern Hills is located in Davis County and lies 1,494 miles [2,404.4 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Northern Hills that is located in Hamilton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Davis County community of Northern Hills.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Northern Hills ...

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.

  • Cross Creek
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Cross Creek is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Creek
  • Dale Acres
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Dale Acres is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dale Acres
  • Echo Glen
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Echo Glen is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo Glen
  • Forestdale
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Forestdale is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forestdale
  • Galaxy Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Galaxy Heights is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galaxy Heights
  • Green Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Green Hills is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Hills
  • Greens Mill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Greens Mill is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greens Mill
  • Hickory Woods
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Hickory Woods is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Woods
  • Kings Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Kings Ridge is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Ridge
  • Long Branch
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Long Branch is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Branch
  • Town Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Town Hills is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town Hills
  • Valleybrook
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Valleybrook is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valleybrook

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

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

  • Chattanooga, which is the Seat of Hamilton County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 111 miles [178.6 km]<2> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Northern Hills 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 521 miles [838.5 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,410 miles [10,315.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,120 miles [11,458.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,996 miles [8,040.3 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 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 Northern Hills 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 '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- Northern Hills) 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 Northern Hills 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 Northern Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.1451, Longitude: -85.2427       In this case, the coordinates for Northern Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.817 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.523 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.29 degrees.