Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Virginia, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Virginia and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Virginia
- 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 Virginia:
- 47.523219, -92.546843
- 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 Virginia
- 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 Saint Louis County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Saint Louis County
- Since Virginia is near Itasca County, we have provided a link to its eBird sighting report:
- eBird sighting report for Itasca 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 Virginia ...
We found seventeen communities that share the name Virginia.
There is one other community in Minnesota which is also named Virginia.
Beyond Minnesota, we know of another sixteen communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these sixteen communities, sixteen are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Located In Minnesota ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- California
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Maine
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- Ontario
- We haven't found the location of this community yet.
- Pennsylvania
- South Dakota
- Dewey County
- This Virginia is located in Dewey County and lies 413 miles [664.7 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Virginia that is located in Saint Louis County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dewey County community of Virginia.
- Lawrence 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 South Dakota community of Virginia [Lawrence County].
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Brooke County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Virginia [Brooke County].
- Mineral 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 West Virginia community of Virginia [Mineral County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Virginia ...
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.
- De Forest
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south) - Franklin
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast) - Gilbert
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gilbert have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilbert
- Gilbert is located in Saint Louis County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,761 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gilbert <5>
- Hopper
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest) - Iron Junction
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron Junction
- Iron Junction is located in Saint Louis County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 87 people
- Mountain Iron
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Iron
- Mountain Iron is located in Saint Louis County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,816 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mountain Iron <5>
- Rainy Junction
(Less than 2 miles to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rainy Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainy Junction
- Rainy Junction is located in Saint Louis County
- Spruce
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south) - Wolf
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
How Far From Virginia 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 city such as Virginia to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Virginia and extending to:
- Duluth, which is the Seat of Saint Louis County, lies 54 miles [86.9 km]<2> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Virginia to Duluth, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
- Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 179 miles [288.1 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 11 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 978 miles [1,573.9 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 56 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,069 miles [9,767.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,827 miles [10,987 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,746 miles [7,637.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Virginia: www.virginiamn.us/
The official website for Saint Louis County: www.co.st-louis.mn.us/
The official website for State of Minnesota: https://mn.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 Virginia 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> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Virginia) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Virginia. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.5232, Longitude: -92.5468 |
| <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 Virginia, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Virginia 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 317.754 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.888 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.521 degrees. |