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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Surprise, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Surprise 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 Surprise:
    • 35.646132, -84.633976
    • 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 Surprise
  • 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 Meigs County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Meigs County
    • Since Surprise is near McMinn County and also Loudon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McMinn County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Loudon 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 Surprise

Communities Also Named Surprise ...

We found ten communities that are also named Surprise.

Within Tennessee, the name Surprise is unique.

Beyond Tennessee, we know of ten communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these ten communities, nine are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Maricopa County
      • This Surprise is located in Maricopa County and lies 1,576 miles [2,536.3 km]<1> to the west of the Surprise that is located in Meigs County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Maricopa County community of Surprise.
    • British Columbia
      • This Surprise lies 2,715 miles [4,369.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Surprise that is located in Meigs County.
    • California
      • Modoc County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Surprise [Modoc County].
    • Indiana
      • Jackson County
      • This Surprise is located in Jackson County and lies 242 miles [389.5 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Surprise that is located in Meigs County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Surprise.
    • Kansas
      • Grant County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Surprise [Grant County].
      • Hamilton County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Surprise [Hamilton County].
    • Nebraska
      • Butler County
      • This Surprise is located in Butler County and lies 781 miles [1,256.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Surprise that is located in Meigs County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of Surprise.
    • New York
      • Greene County
      • This Surprise is located in Greene County and lies 737 miles [1,186.1 km]<1> to the northeast of the Surprise that is located in Meigs County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greene County community of Surprise.
    • Ohio
      • Morrow County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Surprise [Morrow County].
    • Virginia
      • Culpeper County
      • This Surprise is located in Culpeper County and lies 408 miles [656.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Surprise that is located in Meigs County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Culpeper County community of Surprise.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Surprise ...

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.

  • Cedar Fork
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar Fork is located in Loudon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Fork
  • Cute ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Cute is located in Meigs County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cute
  • Erie
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Erie is located in Loudon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
  • Half Moon Shores
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Half Moon Shores is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Half Moon Shores
  • Iron Hill ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Iron Hill is located in Rhea County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron Hill
  • Maple Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Maple Grove is located in Meigs County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
  • Pattie Gap ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Pattie Gap is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pattie Gap
  • Peakland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Peakland is located in Meigs County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peakland
  • Pleasant Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Pleasant Hill is located in Meigs County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
  • Pond Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Pond Hill is located in McMinn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pond Hill
  • Regret ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Regret is located in McMinn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regret
  • Riddles Store
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Riddles Store is located in McMinn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riddles Store
  • Ten Mile
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Union Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Union Grove is located in McMinn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Grove

How Far From Surprise to ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Surprise and extending to:

  • Decatur, which is the Seat of Meigs County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Surprise to Decatur, with an average speed<5> 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 125 miles [201.2 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 473 miles [761.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 19 days and walking would take 27 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,361 miles [10,237 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,072 miles [11,381.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,948 miles [7,963 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Surprise) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Surprise 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.
<3>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 Surprise, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Surprise 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 Surprise. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.6461, Longitude: -84.6340       In this case, the coordinates for Surprise have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.466 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.19 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.913 degrees.