RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Williamson County >> River Rest >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in River Rest, we use the following websites to find information relevant to River Rest 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 River Rest:
    • 36.014784, -86.893057
    • 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 River Rest
  • 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 Williamson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Williamson County
    • Since River Rest is near Davidson County and also Cheatham County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Davidson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cheatham 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 River Rest

Curious and Interesting Names Near River Rest ...

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.

  • Chestnut Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Chestnut Hill is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Hill
  • Deerwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Deerwood is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerwood
  • Derby Glen
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Derby Glen is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derby Glen
  • Forest Home
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Forest Home is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Home
  • Fountainhead
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Fountainhead is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountainhead
  • Foxland Hall
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Foxland Hall is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxland Hall
  • Grassland
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Grassland is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grassland
  • Highgate
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Highgate is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highgate
  • Hunters Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Hunters Hill is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Hill
  • Hunters Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Hunters Ridge is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Ridge
  • Land Mark
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Land Mark is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Land Mark
  • Landings
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Landings is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Landings
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Longwood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Longwood is located in Williamson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longwood
    • Poplar Hills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Poplar Hills is located in Williamson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Hills
    • Red Bud
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Red Bud is located in Williamson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bud
    • Walnut Hills
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Walnut Hills is located in Davidson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Hills

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in River Rest and extending to:

  • Franklin, which is the Seat of Williamson County, lies just to the South.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could walk a straight line from River Rest to Nashville, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 575 miles [925.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 33 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,436 miles [10,357.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,154 miles [11,513.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,030 miles [8,095 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- River Rest) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 River Rest 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 River Rest. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.0148, Longitude: -86.8931       In this case, the coordinates for River Rest have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.859 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.845 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.772 degrees.