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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Athlone, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Athlone 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 Athlone:
    • 38.535956, -78.706131
    • 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 Athlone
  • 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 Athlone is near Page County and also Shenandoah County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Page County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shenandoah 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 Athlone

Communities Also Named Athlone ...

We found eight communities that are also named Athlone.

Within Virginia, the name Athlone is unique.

Beyond Virginia, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, five are located in the United States and three are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alberta
      • This Athlone lies 1,937 miles [3,117.3 km]<1> to the northwest of the Athlone that is located in Rockingham County.
    • California
      • Merced County
      • This Athlone is located in Merced County and lies 2,252 miles [3,624.2 km]<1> to the west of the Athlone that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Merced County community of Athlone.
    • Louisiana
      • Concordia Parish
      • This Athlone is located in Concordia Parish and lies 876 miles [1,409.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Athlone that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Concordia Parish community of Athlone.
    • Michigan
      • Monroe 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 Athlone [Monroe County].
    • Newfoundland and Labrador
      • 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 Newfoundland and Labrador community of Athlone.
    • North Carolina
      • Yancey 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 North Carolina community of Athlone [Yancey County].
    • Ohio
      • Butler 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 Ohio community of Athlone [Butler County].
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Athlone.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Athlone ...

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.

  • Catherine Furnace
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Catherine Furnace is located in Page County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catherine Furnace
  • Comertown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Comertown is located in Page County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comertown
  • Fleeburg
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Fleeburg is located in Page County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fleeburg
  • Greenwood
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Greenwood is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Grove Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Grove Hill is located in Page County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Hill
  • Hightown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Hightown is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hightown
  • Lacey Spring
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Lacey Spring is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacey Spring
  • Mayland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Mayland is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayland
  • Old Furnace ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Old Furnace is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Furnace
  • Tenth Legion
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Tenth Legion is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tenth Legion

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

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

  • Harrisonburg, which is the Seat of Rockingham County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Athlone to Harrisonburg, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 97 miles [156.1 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 93 miles [149.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,983 miles [9,628.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,691 miles [10,768.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,567 miles [7,349.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 from Point A (ie- Athlone) 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 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 Athlone 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>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 Athlone, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Athlone 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 Athlone. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5360, Longitude: -78.7061       In this case, the coordinates for Athlone have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.897 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.53 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.552 degrees.