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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Riovista, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Riovista 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 Riovista:
    • 36.334829, -82.261524
    • 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 Riovista
  • 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 Riovista is near Washington County and also Sullivan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sullivan 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 Riovista

Communities Also Named Riovista ...

We found two communities that are also named Riovista.

Within Tennessee, the name Riovista is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • White 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 Arkansas community of Riovista [White County].
    • Wyoming
      • Sweetwater County
      • This Riovista is located in Sweetwater County and lies 1,500 miles [2,414 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Riovista that is located in Carter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sweetwater County community of Riovista.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Riovista ...

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.

  • Big Spring
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Big Spring is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Spring
  • Breezy Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Breezy Hills is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Breezy Hills
  • Buffalo View
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Buffalo View is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo View
  • Cedar Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Central
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Central is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central
  • Charity Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Charity Hill is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charity Hill
  • College Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • College Park is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Park
  • Gap Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Gap Creek is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gap Creek
  • Georgia Terrace
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Georgia Terrace is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgia Terrace
  • Green Pine
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Green Pine is located in Carter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Pine
  • Keystone
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Keystone is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone
  • Meadowview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Meadowview is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowview
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...
    • Oak Grove
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Oak Grove is located in Carter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
    • Pine Crest
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Pine Crest is located in Carter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Crest
    • Piney Grove
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Piney Grove is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Grove
    • Powder Branch
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Powder Branch is located in Carter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powder Branch
    • Range
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Range is located in Carter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Range
    • Sinking Creek
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Sinking Creek is located in Carter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sinking Creek
    • Stoney Brook
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Stoney Brook is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoney Brook
    • Sunset
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Sunset is located in Carter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset
    • Valley Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Valley Park is located in Carter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Park
    • Wildwood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Wildwood is located in Carter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood

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

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

  • Elizabethton, which is the Seat of Carter County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 251 miles [403.9 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Riovista to Nashville, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 15 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 336 miles [540.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,230 miles [10,026.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,938 miles [11,165.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,814 miles [7,747.4 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Riovista 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Riovista) 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 Riovista 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 Riovista. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.3348, Longitude: -82.2615       In this case, the coordinates for Riovista have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.056 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.67 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.746 degrees.