RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of North Carolina >> Rockingham County >> Dan River >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Dan River, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dan River 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 Dan River:
    • 36.464582, -79.762535
    • 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 Dan River
  • 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 Rockingham County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rockingham County
    • Since Dan River is near Henry County and also Pittsylvania County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henry County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pittsylvania 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 Dan River

Communities Also Named Dan River ...

We found two communities that are also named Dan River.

Within North Carolina, the name Dan River is unique.

Beyond North Carolina, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Virginia
      • Patrick 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 Virginia community of Dan River [Patrick County].
      • Pittsylvania County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Dan River [Pittsylvania County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dan River ...

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.

  • Bearslide
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Bearslide is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bearslide
  • College Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • College Village is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Village
  • Eden
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Eden is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 14,867 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eden <3>
  • Forestdale
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Forestdale is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forestdale
  • Green Knolls
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Green Knolls is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Knolls
  • Holly Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Holly Hills is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Hills
  • Homestead
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Homestead is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homestead
  • Indian Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Indian Hills is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
  • Leaksville ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Leaksville is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leaksville
  • Meadow Summit
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Meadow Summit is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Summit
  • Piney Fork
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Piney Fork is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Fork
  • Providence
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Providence is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Ravenwood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Ravenwood is located in Rockingham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenwood
    • Riverbend
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Riverbend is located in Rockingham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverbend
    • Spray ‑ Historic
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Spray is located in Rockingham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spray
    • Sunset Hills
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Sunset Hills is located in Rockingham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Hills
    • Whispering Pines
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Whispering Pines is located in Rockingham County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whispering Pines

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Dan River and extending to:

  • Wentworth, which is the Seat of Rockingham County, lies just to the South.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 78 miles [125.5 km]<4> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Dan River to Raleigh, with an average speed<5>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 224 miles [360.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,119 miles [9,847.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,820 miles [10,975.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,698 miles [7,560.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 Dan River 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>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 Dan River, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Dan River) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Dan River 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 Dan River. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.4646, Longitude: -79.7625       In this case, the coordinates for Dan River have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.585 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.005 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.693 degrees.