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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Blackberry, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blackberry 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 Blackberry:
    • 36.716804, -80.038655
    • 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 Blackberry
  • 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 Henry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henry County
    • Since Blackberry is near Patrick County and also Franklin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Patrick County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin 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 Blackberry

Communities Also Named Blackberry ...

We found five communities that are also named Blackberry.

There is one other community in Virginia that is also named Blackberry.

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

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Northumberland County
      • This Blackberry is located in Northumberland County and lies 220 miles [354.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Blackberry that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Northumberland County community of Blackberry.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Kane 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 Illinois community of Blackberry [Kane County].
    • Kentucky
      • Pike 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 Kentucky community of Blackberry [Pike County].
    • Minnesota
      • Itasca County
      • This Blackberry is located in Itasca County and lies 993 miles [1,598.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Blackberry that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Itasca County community of Blackberry.
    • Texas
      • Grimes County
      • This Blackberry is located in Grimes County and lies 1,007 miles [1,620.6 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Blackberry that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grimes County community of Blackberry.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Blackberry ...

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.

  • Chestnut Knob
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Chestnut Knob is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Knob
  • Craig
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Craig is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craig
  • Elamsville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Elamsville is located in Patrick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elamsville
  • Grassy Creek
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Grassy Creek is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grassy Creek
  • Henry
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Horse Pasture
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Horse Pasture is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horse Pasture
  • Jones Creek
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jones Creek is located in Martinsville City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones Creek
  • Martinsville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Pleasant Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Reed Creek Village
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Reed Creek Village is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reed Creek Village
  • Rock Run
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Rock Run is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Run
  • Stanleytown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Stones Store
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Stones Store is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stones Store

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

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

  • Collinsville, which is the Seat of Henry County, lies just to the East.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 154 miles [247.8 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Blackberry to Richmond, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 222 miles [357.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,119 miles [9,847.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,823 miles [10,980.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,700 miles [7,563.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Blackberry) 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 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 Blackberry 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 Blackberry 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 Blackberry. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.7168, Longitude: -80.0387       In this case, the coordinates for Blackberry have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.741 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.221 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.723 degrees.