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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Blacksburg, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blacksburg 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 Blacksburg:
    • 37.229330, -80.413947
    • 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 Blacksburg
  • 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 Montgomery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Since Blacksburg is near Giles County and also Craig County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Giles County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Craig 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 Blacksburg

Communities Also Named Blacksburg ...

We found four communities that are also named Blacksburg.

There are two communities within Virginia that are also named Blacksburg.

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

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Rockbridge County
      • This Blacksburg is located in Rockbridge County and lies 72 miles [115.9 km]<1> to the northeast of the Blacksburg that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rockbridge County community of Blacksburg.
    • Washington County
      • This Blacksburg is located in Washington County and lies 84 miles [135.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Blacksburg that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Blacksburg.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • South Carolina
      • Cherokee County
      • This Blacksburg is located in Cherokee County and lies 158 miles [254.3 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Blacksburg that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cherokee County community of Blacksburg.
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha 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 West Virginia community of Blacksburg [Kanawha County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Blacksburg ...

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.

  • Airport Acres
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Airport Acres is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Airport Acres
  • Cedar Orchard
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Cedar Orchard is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Orchard
  • Clover Valley
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Clover Valley is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clover Valley
  • Evergreen
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Evergreen is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
  • Farmview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Farmview is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmview
  • Hunters Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Hunters Ridge is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Ridge
  • Knob Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Knob Hill is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knob Hill
  • Meadow Brook
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Meadow Brook is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Brook
  • Meadow Run
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Meadow Run is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Run
  • Mission Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Mission Hills is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Hills
  • Mountain View
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Mountain View is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View
  • Murphy
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Murphy is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murphy
  • Continue List   (12 more) ...
    • Orchard View
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Orchard View is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchard View
    • Patrick Henry Place
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Patrick Henry Place is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patrick Henry Place
    • Pheasant Run
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Pheasant Run is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pheasant Run
    • Pilgrims Pointe
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Pilgrims Pointe is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilgrims Pointe
    • Rainbow Ridge
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Rainbow Ridge is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainbow Ridge
    • Ramble Ridge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Ramble Ridge is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ramble Ridge
    • Silver Leaf
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Silver Leaf is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Leaf
    • Stonegate
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Stonegate is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonegate
    • Sundance Ridge
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Sundance Ridge is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sundance Ridge
    • Sundance Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Sundance Village is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sundance Village
    • University Place
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • University Place is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Place
    • University Terrace
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • University Terrace is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Terrace

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

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

  • Christiansburg, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies just to the South.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 164 miles [263.9 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Blacksburg to Richmond, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 216 miles [347.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,113 miles [9,837.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,819 miles [10,974.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,696 miles [7,557.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Blacksburg) 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 Blacksburg 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 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 Blacksburg 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 Blacksburg. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.2293, Longitude: -80.4139    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.952 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.538 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.711 degrees.