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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Smithwood, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Smithwood 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 Smithwood:
    • 36.027860, -83.922130
    • 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 Smithwood
  • 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 Smithwood is near Hamilton County and also Anderson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hamilton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Anderson 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 Smithwood

Curious and Interesting Names Near Smithwood ...

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
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Beverly is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beverly
  • Black Oak
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Black Oak is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Oak
  • Cedar Flats
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedar Flats is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Flats
  • Cedarchase
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Cedarchase is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarchase
  • Dry Gap
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Dry Gap is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Gap
  • Fieldview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Fieldview is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fieldview
  • Fountain City
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Fountain City is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountain City
  • Fountaincrest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Fountaincrest is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountaincrest
  • Freeway
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Freeway is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeway
  • Greenway
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Greenway is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenway
  • Halls
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Halls is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls
  • Halls Crossroads
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Halls Crossroads is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls Crossroads
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Lincoln Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Lincoln Park is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Park
    • Loveland
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Loveland is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loveland
    • Murphy Hills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Murphy Hills is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murphy Hills
    • Oak Grove
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Oak Grove is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
    • Park City
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Park City is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park City
    • Spring Place
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Spring Place is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Place
    • Whittle Springs
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Whittle Springs is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whittle Springs

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

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

  • Knoxville, which is the Seat of Knox County, lies just to the South.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 159 miles [255.9 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Smithwood to Nashville, with an average speed<2>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 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 426 miles [685.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 25 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,314 miles [10,161.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,024 miles [11,304 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,900 miles [7,885.8 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- Smithwood) 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 Smithwood 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 Smithwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.0279, Longitude: -83.9221       In this case, the coordinates for Smithwood have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.046 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.761 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.517 degrees.