RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Bedford County >> Big Island >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Big Island, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Big Island 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 Big Island:
    • 37.533749, -79.359754
    • 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 Big Island
  • 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 Bedford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bedford County
    • Since Big Island is near Amherst County and also Rockbridge County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Amherst 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 Big Island

Communities Also Named Big Island ...

We found six communities that are also named Big Island.

Within Virginia, the name Big Island is unique.

Beyond Virginia, we know of six communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, four are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Louisiana
      • Rapides Parish
      • This Big Island is located in Rapides Parish and lies 844 miles [1,358.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Big Island that is located in Bedford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rapides Parish community of Big Island.
    • Minnesota
      • Hennepin 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 Minnesota community of Big Island [Hennepin County].
    • New York
      • Orange County
      • This Big Island is located in Orange County and lies 371 miles [597.1 km]<1> to the northeast of the Big Island that is located in Bedford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Orange County community of Big Island.
    • Newfoundland and Labrador
      • This Big Island lies 1,571 miles [2,528.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Big Island that is located in Bedford County.
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Big Island lies 1,035 miles [1,665.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Big Island that is located in Bedford County.
    • Ohio
      • Marion County
      • This Big Island is located in Marion County and lies 296 miles [476.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Big Island that is located in Bedford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Big Island.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Big Island ...

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.

  • Balcony Falls
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Balcony Falls is located in Rockbridge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Balcony Falls
  • Coffee
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Coffee is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coffee
  • Eagles Eyrie
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Eagles Eyrie is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagles Eyrie
  • Glasgow
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Major
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Major is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Major
  • Natural Bridge Station
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Otterville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Otterville is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otterville
  • Peakland
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Peakland is located in Lynchburg City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peakland
  • Pleasant View
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Pleasant View is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant View
  • Salt Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Salt Creek is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salt Creek

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 105 miles [169 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Big Island to Richmond, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 157 miles [252.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,055 miles [9,744.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,760 miles [10,879.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,637 miles [7,462.5 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Big Island) 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 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 Big Island 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Big Island 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 Big Island. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.5337, Longitude: -79.3598       In this case, the coordinates for Big Island have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.322 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.864 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.175 degrees.