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:
- 44.326374, -103.649083
- 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 Lawrence County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Lawrence County
- Since Virginia is near Meade County and also Pennington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Meade County
- eBird sighting report for Pennington 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 South Dakota which is also named Virginia.
Beyond South Dakota, 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 South Dakota ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- California
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Maine
- Minnesota
- Rock 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 Minnesota community of Virginia [Rock County].
- Saint Louis County
- This Virginia is located in Saint Louis County and lies 576 miles [927 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Virginia that is located in Lawrence County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis County community of Virginia.
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- Ontario
- We haven't found the location of this community yet.
- Pennsylvania
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Brooke 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 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.
- Benchmark
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast) - Blacktail
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest) - Carterville ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carterville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carterville
- Carterville is located in Lawrence County
- Carthage ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west) - Centennial City ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Centennial City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centennial City
- Centennial City is located in Lawrence County
- Crook City
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crook City
- Crook City is located in Lawrence County
- Deadwood
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deadwood
- Deadwood is located in Lawrence County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,294 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Deadwood <4>
- Elizabethtown ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elizabethtown have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elizabethtown
- Elizabethtown is located in Lawrence County
- Galena
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galena
- Galena is located in Lawrence County
- Gayville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest) - Greenwood
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
- Greenwood is located in Lawrence County
- Greenwood has also been known as:
- Laflin
- Lead
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lead have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lead
- Lead is located in Lawrence County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,947 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lead <4>
- Terry
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
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 community such as Virginia 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<5> community of Virginia once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Virginia and extending to:
- Deadwood, which is the Seat of Lawrence County, lies just to the Northwest.
- Pierre, which is the State Capital of South Dakota, lies 164 miles [263.9 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Virginia to Pierre, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,417 miles [2,280.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 56 days and walking would take 81 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,571 miles [10,575 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,337 miles [11,807.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,286 miles [8,507 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Lawrence County: www.lawrence.sd.us/
The official website for State of South Dakota: sd.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' 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: 44.3264, Longitude: -103.6491 In this case, the coordinates for Virginia have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 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. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <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 325.855 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 324.751 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 316.592 degrees. |