RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Blount County >> Shooks Gap >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Shooks Gap, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shooks Gap 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 Shooks Gap:
    • 35.884252, -83.792121
    • 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 Shooks Gap
  • 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 Blount County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Blount County
    • Since Shooks Gap is near Knox County and also Sevier County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Knox County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sevier 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 Shooks Gap

Curious and Interesting Names Near Shooks Gap ...

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.

  • Colonial Village
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Colonial Village is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colonial Village
  • Forks of the River
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Forks of the River is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forks of the River
  • Gapcreek ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Gapcreek is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gapcreek
  • Grandview
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Grandview is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandview
  • Hicks Crossing
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Hicks Crossing is located in Sevier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hicks Crossing
  • High Bluff
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • High Bluff is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Bluff
  • Huskey Valley
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Huskey Valley is located in Blount County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huskey Valley
  • Knob Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Knob Creek is located in Sevier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knob Creek
  • Marbledale
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Marbledale is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marbledale
  • Oak City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Oak City is located in Sevier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak City
  • Prospect
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Prospect is located in Blount County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prospect
  • Providence
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Providence is located in Blount County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Shooks
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Shooks is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shooks
    • Stock Creek
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Stock Creek is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stock Creek
    • Union Valley
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Union Valley is located in Sevier County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Valley
    • Valley Grove
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Valley Grove is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Grove

How Far From Shooks Gap to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Shooks Gap to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Maryville, which is the Seat of Blount County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Shooks Gap to Maryville, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 167 miles [268.8 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 424 miles [682.4 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<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,315 miles [10,163 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,025 miles [11,305.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,901 miles [7,887.4 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Shooks Gap) 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 Shooks Gap 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 Shooks Gap. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.8843, Longitude: -83.7921       In this case, the coordinates for Shooks Gap have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.965 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.648 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.502 degrees.