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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Windmere, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Windmere 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 Windmere:
    • 36.418193, -79.681976
    • 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 Windmere
  • 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 Windmere is near Pittsylvania County and also Henry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pittsylvania County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henry 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 Windmere

Communities Also Named Windmere ...

We found two communities that are also named Windmere.

Within North Carolina, the name Windmere is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Massachusetts
      • Plymouth 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 Massachusetts community of Windmere [Plymouth County].
    • Tennessee
      • Sullivan County
      • This Windmere is located in Sullivan County and lies 158 miles [254.3 km]<2> to the west of the Windmere that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sullivan County community of Windmere.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Windmere ...

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
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Bearslide is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bearslide
  • Cedar Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Cedar Ridge is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Ridge
  • College Village
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • College Village is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Village
  • Dan River
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Dan River is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dan River
  • Forestdale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Forestdale is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forestdale
  • Happy Home
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Happy Home is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Happy Home
  • Meadow Summit
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Meadow Summit is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Summit
  • Piney Fork
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Piney Fork is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Fork
  • Sandy Cross
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Sandy Cross is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Cross
  • Village Oaks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Village Oaks is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Village Oaks
  • Woodland Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Woodland Park is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Park

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

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

  • Wentworth, which is the Seat of Rockingham County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 72 miles [115.9 km]<2> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Windmere to Raleigh, 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 4 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,117 miles [9,844.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,818 miles [10,972.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,697 miles [7,559.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Windmere 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 '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- Windmere) 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 Windmere 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 Windmere. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.4182, Longitude: -79.6820       In this case, the coordinates for Windmere have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.539 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.945 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.676 degrees.