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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Barytes, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Barytes 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 Barytes:
    • 36.622051, -82.157354
    • 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 Barytes
  • 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 Washington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Since Barytes is near Bristol City and also Sullivan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bristol City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sullivan 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 Barytes

Communities Also Named Barytes ...

We found one communities that are also named Barytes.

Within Virginia, the name Barytes is unique.

Beyond Virginia, there is another community also named Barytes in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Hot Spring 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 Arkansas community of Barytes [Hot Spring County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Barytes ...

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.

  • Edgefield
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Edgefield is located in Sullivan County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgefield
  • High Meadows
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • High Meadows is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Meadows
  • Horizon Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Horizon Hills is located in Bristol City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horizon Hills
  • Kingtown
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Kingtown is located in Bristol City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingtown
  • Meadow Crest
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Meadow Crest is located in Bristol City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Crest
  • Oak Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Oak Grove is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Redstone
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Redstone is located in Sullivan County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redstone
  • Shadow Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Shadow Valley is located in Bristol City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadow Valley
  • Shakesville
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Shakesville is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shakesville
  • Spring Garden
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Spring Garden is located in Bristol City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Garden
  • Virginia Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Virginia Heights is located in Bristol City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Heights
  • Virginia Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Virginia Hills is located in Bristol City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Hills
  • Walnut Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Walnut Grove is located in Bristol City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove

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

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

  • Abingdon, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Barytes to Abingdon, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 267 miles [429.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 320 miles [515 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,213 miles [9,998.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,921 miles [11,138.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,798 miles [7,721.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 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 Barytes 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Barytes) 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 Barytes 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 Barytes. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.6221, Longitude: -82.1574       In this case, the coordinates for Barytes have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.994 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.641 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.619 degrees.