RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Brunswick County >> Alberta >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Alberta, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Alberta and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Alberta:
    • 36.854918, -77.896821
    • 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 Alberta
  • 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 Brunswick County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Brunswick County
    • Since Alberta is near Lunenburg County and also Dinwiddie County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lunenburg County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dinwiddie 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 Alberta

Communities Also Named Alberta ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Alberta.

Within Virginia, the name Alberta is unique.

Beyond Virginia, we know of eleven communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Wilcox County
      • This Alberta is located in Wilcox County and lies 627 miles [1,009.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Alberta that is located in Brunswick County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wilcox County community of Alberta.
    • Arkansas
      • Randolph 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 Arkansas community of Alberta [Randolph County].
    • Kentucky
      • Harrison County
      • This Alberta is located in Harrison County and lies 375 miles [603.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Alberta that is located in Brunswick County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harrison County community of Alberta.
    • Louisiana
      • Bienville Parish
      • This Alberta is located in Bienville Parish and lies 923 miles [1,485.4 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Alberta that is located in Brunswick County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bienville Parish community of Alberta.
    • Michigan
      • Baraga County
      • This Alberta is located in Baraga County and lies 866 miles [1,393.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Alberta that is located in Brunswick County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baraga County community of Alberta.
      • Chippewa 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 Michigan community of Alberta [Chippewa County].
    • Minnesota
      • Stevens County
      • This Alberta is located in Stevens County and lies 1,114 miles [1,792.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Alberta that is located in Brunswick County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stevens County community of Alberta.
    • Missouri
      • Henry County
      • This Alberta is located in Henry County and lies 867 miles [1,395.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Alberta that is located in Brunswick County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Henry County community of Alberta.
    • Ohio
      • Meigs 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 Ohio community of Alberta [Meigs County].
    • West Virginia
      • Alberta #
      • 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 Alberta.
    • Wyoming
      • Converse County
      • This Alberta is located in Converse County and lies 1,518 miles [2,443 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Alberta that is located in Brunswick County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Converse County community of Alberta.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Alberta ...

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.

  • Cool Spring
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Cool Spring is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cool Spring
  • Danieltown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Danieltown is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danieltown
  • Dolphin
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Dolphin is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dolphin
  • Edmunds Store
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Edmunds Store is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edmunds Store
  • Octagon
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Octagon is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Octagon
  • Price Mill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Price Mill is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Price Mill
  • Rocky Ford
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Rocky Ford is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ford
  • Sturgeonville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Sturgeonville is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sturgeonville
  • Tobacco
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Tobacco is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tobacco
  • Vote
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Vote is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vote

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

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

  • Lawrenceville, which is the Seat of Brunswick County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 53 miles [85.3 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could walk a straight line from Alberta to Richmond, with an average speed<3> 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.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 148 miles [238.2 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,021 miles [9,689.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,720 miles [10,814.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,599 miles [7,401.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Alberta) 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 Alberta 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>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 Alberta 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 Alberta. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8549, Longitude: -77.8968       In this case, the coordinates for Alberta have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.494 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.816 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.817 degrees.