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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Plato, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Plato 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 Plato:
    • 36.193169, -82.187351
    • 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 Plato
  • 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 Carter County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Carter County
    • Since Plato is near Unicoi County and also Mitchell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Unicoi County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mitchell 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 Plato

Communities Also Named Plato ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Plato.

Within Tennessee, the name Plato is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Iroquois 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 Illinois community of Plato [Iroquois County].
    • Indiana
      • LaGrange County
      • This Plato is located in LaGrange County and lies 412 miles [663 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Plato that is located in Carter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the LaGrange County community of Plato.
    • Iowa
      • Cedar County
      • This Plato is located in Cedar County and lies 620 miles [997.8 km]<2> to the northwest of the Plato that is located in Carter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cedar County community of Plato.
    • Kansas
      • Decatur 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 Plato [Decatur County].
    • Kentucky
      • Pulaski County
      • This Plato is located in Pulaski County and lies 142 miles [228.5 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Plato that is located in Carter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pulaski County community of Plato.
    • Minnesota
      • McLeod County
      • This Plato is located in McLeod County and lies 857 miles [1,379.2 km]<2> to the northwest of the Plato that is located in Carter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McLeod County community of Plato.
    • Missouri
      • Texas County
      • This Plato is located in Texas County and lies 561 miles [902.8 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Plato that is located in Carter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Texas County community of Plato.
    • Nebraska
      • Saline County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Saline County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saline County community of Plato.
    • New York
      • Cattaraugus County
      • This Plato is located in Cattaraugus County and lies 464 miles [746.7 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Plato that is located in Carter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cattaraugus County community of Plato.
    • Saskatchewan
      • This Plato lies 1,655 miles [2,663.5 km]<2> to the northwest of the Plato that is located in Carter County.
    • Virginia
      • Halifax County
      • This Plato is located in Halifax County and lies 179 miles [288.1 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Plato that is located in Carter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Halifax County community of Plato.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Plato ...

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.

  • Backwoods
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Backwoods is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Backwoods
  • Cloudland ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Cloudland is located in Mitchell County (NC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloudland
  • Cove Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Cove Creek is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cove Creek
  • Crabtree
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Crabtree is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crabtree
  • Gap Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Gap Creek is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gap Creek
  • Gap Run
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Gap Run is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gap Run
  • Heaton Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Heaton Creek is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heaton Creek
  • Limestone Cove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Limestone Cove is located in Unicoi County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Limestone Cove
  • Piney Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Piney Grove is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Grove
  • Powder Branch
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Powder Branch is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powder Branch
  • Sugar Hollow
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Sugar Hollow is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Hollow
  • Three Mountains
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Three Mountains is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Mountains
  • Tiger Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Tiger Valley is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tiger Valley
  • Whispering Pines
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Whispering Pines is located in Unicoi County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whispering Pines

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

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

  • Elizabethton, which is the Seat of Carter County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Plato to Elizabethton, with an average speed<4> 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 255 miles [410.4 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 338 miles [544 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 20 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,234 miles [10,032.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,940 miles [11,168.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,817 miles [7,752.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Plato 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Plato) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Plato, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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.
<5>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 Plato 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 Plato. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.1932, Longitude: -82.1874       In this case, the coordinates for Plato have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.011 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.598 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.757 degrees.