Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Skiles, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Skiles and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Skiles
- 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 Skiles:
- 35.432290, -85.228016
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Skiles
- 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 Bledsoe County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Bledsoe County
- Since Skiles is near Hamilton County and also Sequatchie County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Hamilton County
- eBird sighting report for Sequatchie 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Skiles ...
We found one communities that share the name Skiles.
Within Tennessee, the name Skiles is unique.
Beyond Tennessee, there is another community also named Skiles in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near Skiles ...
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.
- Bakewell
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast) - Elm Hill
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest) - Flat Top
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Top
- Flat Top is located in Hamilton County
- Population from the 2010 Census: 422 people
- Gates Ford
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gates Ford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gates Ford
- Gates Ford is located in Bledsoe County
- Grant
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south) - Graysville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Graysville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graysville
- Graysville is located in Rhea County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,570 people
- Harris Ford
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harris Ford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris Ford
- Harris Ford is located in Sequatchie County
- Hickory Grove
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hickory Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Grove
- Hickory Grove is located in Bledsoe County
- Hughes ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south) - Lees Station
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lees Station have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees Station
- Lees Station is located in Bledsoe County
- New Harmony
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Harmony have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Harmony
- New Harmony is located in Bledsoe County
- Sale Creek
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sale Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sale Creek
- Sale Creek is located in Hamilton County
- Population from the 2010 Census: 2,845 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sale Creek <3>
How Far From Skiles 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 Skiles to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of Skiles once stood, the straight-line distance<5> beginning in Skiles and extending to:
- Pikeville, which is the Seat of Bledsoe County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<5> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Skiles to Pikeville, with an average speed<6> 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.
- Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 100 miles [160.9 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 510 miles [820.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 20 days and walking would take 29 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,395 miles [10,291.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,107 miles [11,437.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,983 miles [8,019.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Tennessee: https://www.tn.gov/
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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Skiles 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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <3> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Skiles, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <5> | 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 from Point A (ie- Skiles) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Skiles. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.4323, Longitude: -85.2280 In this case, the coordinates for Skiles have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Skiles to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.818 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.565 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.213 degrees. |