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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ritta, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ritta 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 Ritta:
    • 36.057305, -83.866851
    • 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 Ritta
  • 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 Knox County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Knox County
    • Since Ritta is near Union County and also Hamilton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Union County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hamilton 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 Ritta

Communities Also Named Ritta ...

We found two communities that are also named Ritta.

Within Tennessee, the name Ritta is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Hendry 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 Florida community of Ritta [Hendry County].
      • Palm Beach County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Florida community of Ritta [Palm Beach County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ritta ...

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.

  • Beverly
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Beverly is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beverly
  • Cedarchase
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedarchase is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarchase
  • Greenway
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Greenway is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenway
  • Homestead
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Homestead is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homestead
  • John Sevier
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • John Sevier is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for John Sevier
  • Kings Valley
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Kings Valley is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Valley
    • Estimated population in 2014: 5,835 people
  • Loveland
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Loveland is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loveland
  • Mill Run
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Mill Run is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mill Run
  • Murphy Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Murphy Hills is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murphy Hills
  • Oak Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Oak Grove is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Ruggles Ferry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Ruggles Ferry is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruggles Ferry
  • Spring Place
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Spring Place is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Place
  • Whittle Springs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Whittle Springs is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whittle Springs

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Ritta and extending to:

  • Knoxville, which is the Seat of Knox County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 162 miles [260.7 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Ritta to Nashville, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 422 miles [679.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,310 miles [10,155 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,021 miles [11,299.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,897 miles [7,881 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 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 Ritta 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Ritta) 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 Ritta 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 Ritta. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.0573, Longitude: -83.8669       In this case, the coordinates for Ritta have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.013 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.728 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.486 degrees.