RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Jefferson County >> Rock Town >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rock Town, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rock Town 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 Rock Town:
    • 36.138423, -83.451006
    • 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 Rock Town
  • 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Rock Town is near Hamblen County and also Grainger County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hamblen County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grainger 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 Rock Town

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rock Town ...

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.

  • Alpha
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Alpha is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpha
  • Bluegrass
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Bluegrass is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bluegrass
  • Edna
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Edna is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edna
  • Fox Den
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Fox Den is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Den
  • Gravelly Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Gravelly Hill is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gravelly Hill
  • Green Acres
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Acres is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Hunters Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hunters Ridge is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Ridge
  • Kathy Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Kathy Hills is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kathy Hills
  • May Springs ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • May Springs is located in Grainger County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for May Springs
  • Meadowview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Meadowview is located in Hamblen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowview
  • Mount Horeb
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Mount Horeb is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Horeb
  • Oars Ferry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Oars Ferry is located in Grainger County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oars Ferry
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Panther Hills
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Panther Hills is located in Hamblen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panther Hills
    • Pleasant view
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Pleasant view is located in Hamblen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant view
    • Point Seven
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Point Seven is located in Hamblen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Seven
    • Seven Oaks
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Seven Oaks is located in Hamblen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven Oaks
    • Smokerise
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Smokerise is located in Hamblen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smokerise
    • Wilderness Shores
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Wilderness Shores is located in Hamblen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilderness Shores
    • Willow Springs
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Willow Springs is located in Hamblen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Springs

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

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

  • Dandridge, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies just to the South.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 185 miles [297.7 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Rock Town to Nashville, with an average speed<2>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 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 399 miles [642.1 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<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,289 miles [10,121.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,999 miles [11,263.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,875 miles [7,845.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Rock Town) 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 Rock Town 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 Rock Town. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.1384, Longitude: -83.4510       In this case, the coordinates for Rock Town have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.765 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.454 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.292 degrees.