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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Alhambra, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Alhambra 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 Alhambra:
    • 37.786805, -79.089750
    • 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 Alhambra
  • 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 Amherst County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Amherst County
    • Since Alhambra is near Nelson County and also Rockbridge County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Nelson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rockbridge 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 Alhambra

Communities Also Named Alhambra ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Alhambra.

There is one other community in Virginia that is also named Alhambra.

Beyond Virginia, we know of ten communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these ten communities, ten are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Nelson 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 Alhambra [Nelson County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alberta
      • This Alhambra lies 1,975 miles [3,178.5 km]<2> to the northwest of the Alhambra that is located in Amherst County.
    • Arizona
      • Maricopa County
      • This Alhambra is located in Maricopa County and lies 1,867 miles [3,004.6 km]<2> to the west of the Alhambra that is located in Amherst County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Maricopa County community of Alhambra.
    • California
      • Los Angeles County
      • This Alhambra is located in Los Angeles County and lies 2,181 miles [3,510 km]<2> to the west of the Alhambra that is located in Amherst County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Los Angeles County community of Alhambra.
    • Illinois
      • Madison County
      • This Alhambra is located in Madison County and lies 581 miles [935 km]<2> to the west of the Alhambra that is located in Amherst County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Alhambra.
    • Kentucky
      • Robertson County
      • This Alhambra is located in Robertson County and lies 268 miles [431.3 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Alhambra that is located in Amherst County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Robertson County community of Alhambra.
    • Louisiana
      • Iberville Parish
      • This Alhambra is located in Iberville Parish and lies 865 miles [1,392.1 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Alhambra that is located in Amherst County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Iberville Parish community of Alhambra.
    • Mississippi
      • Washington County
      • This Alhambra is located in Washington County and lies 748 miles [1,203.8 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Alhambra that is located in Amherst County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Alhambra.
    • Montana
      • Jefferson County
      • This Alhambra is located in Jefferson County and lies 1,772 miles [2,851.8 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Alhambra that is located in Amherst County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Alhambra.
    • New Mexico
      • Grant 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 New Mexico community of Alhambra [Grant County].
    • Oklahoma
      • Alhambra #1
      • This community is historic<3> and we have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for Alhambra.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Alhambra ...

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.

  • Fancy Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Fancy Hill is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fancy Hill
  • Freshwater
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Freshwater is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freshwater
  • Irish Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Irish Creek is located in Rockbridge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irish Creek
  • Lanes Ford
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Lanes Ford is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanes Ford
  • Love
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Love is located in Augusta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Love
  • Piney River
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Piney River is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney River
  • Poplar Flats
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Poplar Flats is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Flats
  • Roseland
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Roses Mill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Roses Mill is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roses Mill
  • Shady Lane
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Shady Lane is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Lane

How Far From Alhambra to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Alhambra to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Amherst, which is the Seat of Amherst County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Alhambra to Amherst, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 91 miles [146.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 135 miles [217.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,032 miles [9,707.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,737 miles [10,842.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,614 miles [7,425.5 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 Alhambra 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Alhambra) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Alhambra, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Alhambra 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 Alhambra. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.7868, Longitude: -79.0897       In this case, the coordinates for Alhambra have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.155 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.71 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.976 degrees.