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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Oldtown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oldtown 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 Oldtown:
    • 35.980097, -83.165713
    • 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 Oldtown
  • 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 Cocke County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cocke County
    • Since Oldtown is near Jefferson County and also Greene 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 Greene 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 Oldtown

Communities Also Named Oldtown ...

We found ten communities that are also named Oldtown.

Within Tennessee, the name Oldtown is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Bonner County
      • This Oldtown is located in Bonner County and lies 1,908 miles [3,070.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Oldtown that is located in Cocke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bonner County community of Oldtown.
    • Illinois
      • Saline County
      • This Oldtown is located in Saline County and lies 325 miles [523 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Oldtown that is located in Cocke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saline County community of Oldtown.
    • Indiana
      • Dearborn County
      • This Oldtown is located in Dearborn County and lies 233 miles [375 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Oldtown that is located in Cocke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dearborn County community of Oldtown.
    • Kentucky
      • Greenup County
      • This Oldtown is located in Greenup County and lies 170 miles [273.6 km]<1> to the north of the Oldtown that is located in Cocke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greenup County community of Oldtown.
    • Maryland
      • Allegany County
      • This Oldtown is located in Allegany County and lies 349 miles [561.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Oldtown that is located in Cocke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegany County community of Oldtown.
    • Massachusetts
      • Bristol 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 Massachusetts community of Oldtown [Bristol County].
    • Ohio
      • Greene County
      • This Oldtown is located in Greene County and lies 262 miles [421.6 km]<1> to the north of the Oldtown that is located in Cocke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greene County community of Oldtown.
    • South Carolina
      • Newberry County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Oldtown [Newberry County].
    • Virginia
      • Grayson County
      • This Oldtown is located in Grayson County and lies 131 miles [210.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Oldtown that is located in Cocke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grayson County community of Oldtown.
    • West Virginia
      • Mason County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Oldtown [Mason County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Oldtown ...

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.

  • Bat Harbor
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Bat Harbor is located in Cocke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bat Harbor
  • Click Mill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Click Mill is located in Cocke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Click Mill
  • English Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • English Creek is located in Cocke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for English Creek
  • Fowler Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Fowler Grove is located in Cocke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fowler Grove
  • Gum Spring
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Gum Spring is located in Cocke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gum Spring
  • Irish Cut
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Irish Cut is located in Cocke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irish Cut
  • Jaybird
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jaybird is located in Cocke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jaybird
    • Estimated population in 2014: 3,299 people
  • Jimtown
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jimtown is located in Cocke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jimtown
  • Leadvale
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Leadvale is located in Cocke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leadvale
  • Liberty Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Liberty Hill is located in Cocke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Hill
  • Licklog
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Licklog is located in Cocke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Licklog
  • Lilac ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Lilac is located in Cocke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lilac
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Parrottsville
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Pleasant Grove
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Pleasant Grove is located in Cocke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
    • Promised Land
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Promised Land is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Promised Land
    • Read Hill
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Read Hill is located in Cocke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Read Hill

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

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

  • Newport, which is the Seat of Cocke County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 201 miles [323.5 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Oldtown to Nashville, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 12 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 391 miles [629.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,284 miles [10,113.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,993 miles [11,254.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,869 miles [7,835.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Oldtown) 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 Oldtown 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>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 Oldtown, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Oldtown 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 Oldtown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.9801, Longitude: -83.1657       In this case, the coordinates for Oldtown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.592 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.233 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.218 degrees.