Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Blackwood, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blackwood and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Blackwood
- 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 Blackwood:
- 37.219296, -80.397550
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Blackwood
- 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:
- eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
- Since Blackwood is near Giles County and also Craig County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Giles County
- 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Blackwood ...
We found nine communities that share the name Blackwood.
There is one other community in Virginia which is also named Blackwood.
Beyond Virginia, we know of another eight communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Virginia ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New Jersey
- North Carolina
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
Curious and Interesting Names Near Blackwood ...
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 southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Airport Acres have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Airport Acres
- Airport Acres is located in Montgomery County
- Cedar Orchard
(Less than 2 miles to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Orchard have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Orchard
- Cedar Orchard is located in Montgomery County
- Clover Valley
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clover Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clover Valley
- Clover Valley is located in Montgomery County
- Evergreen
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest) - Farmview
(Less than 2 miles to the south) - Hunters Ridge
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hunters Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Ridge
- Hunters Ridge is located in Montgomery County
- Knob Hill
(Less than 2 miles to the north) - Mission Hills
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mission Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Hills
- Mission Hills is located in Montgomery County
- Murphy
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north) - Orchard View
(Less than 2 miles to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Orchard View have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchard View
- Orchard View is located in Montgomery County
- Patrick Henry Place
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Patrick Henry Place have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patrick Henry Place
- Patrick Henry Place is located in Montgomery County
- Pheasant Run
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pheasant Run have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pheasant Run
- Pheasant Run is located in Montgomery County
- Continue List (10 more) ...
- Pilgrims Pointe
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pilgrims Pointe have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilgrims Pointe
- Pilgrims Pointe is located in Montgomery County
- Rainbow Ridge
(Less than 2 miles to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rainbow Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainbow Ridge
- Rainbow Ridge is located in Montgomery County
- Ramble Ridge
(Less than 2 miles to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ramble Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ramble Ridge
- Ramble Ridge is located in Montgomery County
- Silver Leaf
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Silver Leaf have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Leaf
- Silver Leaf is located in Montgomery County
- Stonegate
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest) - Sundance Ridge
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sundance Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sundance Ridge
- Sundance Ridge is located in Montgomery County
- Sundance Village
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sundance Village have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sundance Village
- Sundance Village is located in Montgomery County
- University Place
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for University Place have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Place
- University Place is located in Montgomery County
- University Terrace
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for University Terrace have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Terrace
- University Terrace is located in Montgomery County
- Yellow Sulphur Springs
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Yellow Sulphur Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yellow Sulphur Springs
- Yellow Sulphur Springs is located in Montgomery County
- Pilgrims Pointe
How Far From Blackwood 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 Blackwood to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Blackwood 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 Blackwood to Richmond, with an average speed<4>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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,112 miles [9,836.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,819 miles [10,974.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,695 miles [7,555.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Blackwood. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Montgomery County: www.montva.com/
The official website for State of Virginia: https://www.virginia.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Blackwood) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Blackwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.2193, Longitude: -80.3975 In this case, the coordinates for Blackwood have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Blackwood 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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <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 Blackwood to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.943 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.526 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.707 degrees. |