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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ballsville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ballsville 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 Ballsville:
    • 37.498483, -78.066945
    • 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 Ballsville
  • 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 Powhatan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Powhatan County
    • Since Ballsville is near Amelia County and also Cumberland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Amelia County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cumberland 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 Ballsville

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ballsville ...

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.

  • Bush Park ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Bush Park is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bush Park
  • Cartersville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Felixville ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Felixville is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Felixville
  • Fieldstown
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Fieldstown is located in Amelia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fieldstown
  • Hatchers
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Hatchers is located in Powhatan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hatchers
  • Haw Branch
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Haw Branch is located in Amelia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haw Branch
  • Hideaway Lake
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Hideaway Lake is located in Powhatan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hideaway Lake
  • Hillcrest
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Hillcrest is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
  • James River Landing
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • James River Landing is located in Goochland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for James River Landing
  • Masons Corner
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Masons Corner is located in Amelia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Masons Corner
  • Paineville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Paineville is located in Amelia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paineville
  • Plain View
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Plain View is located in Powhatan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plain View
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Stokes ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
      • Stokes is located in Goochland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stokes
    • Sunny Side
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Sunny Side is located in Cumberland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunny Side
    • Tally ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Tally is located in Cumberland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tally
    • Tobaccoville
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Tobaccoville is located in Powhatan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tobaccoville

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Ballsville and extending to:

  • Powhatan, which is the Seat of Powhatan County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 34 miles [54.7 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could walk a straight line from Ballsville to Richmond, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 111 miles [178.6 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,001 miles [9,657.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,703 miles [10,787.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,581 miles [7,372.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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- Ballsville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Ballsville 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 Ballsville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4985, Longitude: -78.0669       In this case, the coordinates for Ballsville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.567 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.996 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.658 degrees.