RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Van Buren County >> Sopha >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sopha, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sopha and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Sopha:
    • 35.665345, -85.521364
    • 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 Sopha
  • 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 Van Buren County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Van Buren County
    • Since Sopha is near Warren County and also Bledsoe County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Warren County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bledsoe 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 Sopha

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sopha ...

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.

  • Bone Cave
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Bone Cave is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bone Cave
  • Campaign
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Campaign is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campaign
  • Cedar Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Curtistown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Curtistown is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curtistown
  • Denny Ferry
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Denny Ferry is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denny Ferry
  • Goodbars
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Goodbars is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodbars
  • Groves ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Groves is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Groves
  • Harmony
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Harmony is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
  • Isleford
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Isleford is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isleford
  • Pine Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Pine Creek is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Creek
  • Riverview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Riverview is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
  • Sparkman
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Sparkman is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparkman
  • Spring Creek
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Spring Creek is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Creek

How Far From Sopha 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 Sopha 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<1> community of Sopha once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Sopha and extending to:

  • Spencer, which is the Seat of Van Buren County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 78 miles [125.5 km]<2> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Sopha to Nashville, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 516 miles [830.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 21 days and walking would take 30 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,397 miles [10,295 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,110 miles [11,442.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,986 miles [8,024.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Sopha, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>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- Sopha) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Sopha 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 Sopha. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.6653, Longitude: -85.5214       In this case, the coordinates for Sopha have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.004 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.811 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.277 degrees.