RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Nelson County >> Allens Creek >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Allens Creek, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Allens Creek 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 Allens Creek:
    • 37.546809, -78.868629
    • 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 Allens Creek
  • 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 Nelson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Nelson County
    • Since Allens Creek is near Appomattox County and also Amherst County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Appomattox County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Amherst 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 Allens Creek

Communities Also Named Allens Creek ...

We found three communities that are also named Allens Creek.

There is one other community in Virginia that is also named Allens Creek.

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

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Amherst 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 Allens Creek [Amherst County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Monroe 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 Indiana community of Allens Creek [Monroe County].
    • Tennessee
      • Lewis 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 Tennessee community of Allens Creek [Lewis County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Allens Creek ...

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.

  • Buffalo Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Buffalo Springs is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo Springs
  • Five Forks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Five Forks is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Forks
  • Four Forks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Four Forks is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Forks
  • Greenway
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Greenway is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenway
  • Kingswood
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Kingswood is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingswood
  • Martins Shop
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Martins Shop is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martins Shop
  • Mineral ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Mineral is located in Appomattox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral
  • Red Apple Orchard
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Red Apple Orchard is located in Nelson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Apple Orchard
  • Sliders
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Sliders is located in Buckingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sliders
  • Stonewall
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Stonewall is located in Appomattox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonewall
  • Stonewall Mills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Stonewall Mills is located in Appomattox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonewall Mills
  • Sweet Briar Station
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Sweet Briar Station is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Briar Station
  • Union Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Union Hill is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Allens Creek and extending to:

  • Lovingston, which is the Seat of Nelson County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<3> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Allens Creek to Lovingston, with an average speed<4> 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 78 miles [125.5 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 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 136 miles [218.9 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,033 miles [9,709.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • 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).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,614 miles [7,425.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Allens Creek 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 Allens Creek, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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- Allens Creek) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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.
<5>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 Allens Creek 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 Allens Creek. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.5468, Longitude: -78.8686       In this case, the coordinates for Allens Creek have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.033 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.536 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.968 degrees.