Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Bland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bland and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Bland
- 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 Bland:
- 37.102063, -81.116202
- 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 Bland
- 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 Bland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Bland County
- Since Bland is near Wythe County and also Tazewell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Wythe County
- eBird sighting report for Tazewell 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 Bland ...
We found twelve communities that share the name Bland.
Within Virginia, the name Bland is unique.
Beyond Virginia, we know of another twelve communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Benton County
- This Bland is located in Benton County and lies 710 miles [1,142.6 km]<1> to the west of the Bland that is located in Bland County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Benton County community of Bland.
- Saline County
- This Bland is located in Saline County and lies 667 miles [1,073.4 km] to the west of the Bland that is located in Bland County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saline County community of Bland.
- Colorado
- Florida
- Georgia
- Kansas
- Bourbon County
- This community is historic<3> and although located in Bourbon County, we don't know where within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bourbon County community of Bland.
- Reno County
- This community is historic and although located in Reno County, we don't know where within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Reno County community of Bland.
- Missouri
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- Texas
- Bell County
- This Bland is located in Bell County and lies 1,019 miles [1,639.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Bland that is located in Bland County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bell County community of Bland.
- Orange County
- This Bland is located in Orange County and lies 872 miles [1,403.3 km] to the west southwest of the Bland that is located in Bland County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Orange County community of Bland.
- Arkansas
Curious and Interesting Names Near Bland ...
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.
- Cove Creek
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cove Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cove Creek
- Cove Creek is located in Tazewell County
- Eagle Oak
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Grapefield
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grapefield have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grapefield
- Grapefield is located in Bland County
- Hicksville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hicksville
- Hicksville is located in Bland County
- Holly Brook
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holly Brook have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Brook
- Holly Brook is located in Bland County
- Kent
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast) - Mechanicsburg
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mechanicsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsburg
- Mechanicsburg is located in Bland County
- Point Pleasant
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Point Pleasant have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Pleasant
- Point Pleasant is located in Bland County
- Pumpkin Center
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pumpkin Center have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumpkin Center
- Pumpkin Center is located in Bland County
- Rocky Gap
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Gap
- Rocky Gap is located in Bland County
- Round Bottom
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Bottom
- Round Bottom is located in Bland County
- Stones Mill
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stones Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stones Mill
- Stones Mill is located in Wythe County
- Stringtown
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stringtown have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stringtown
- Stringtown is located in Wythe County
- Suiter
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
How Far From Bland 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 Bland to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Bland and extending to:
- Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 204 miles [328.3 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Bland to Richmond, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 12 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 254 miles [408.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,148 miles [9,894.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,855 miles [11,032.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,732 miles [7,615.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Bland. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Bland County: www.bland.org/
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 drawn from Point A (ie- Bland) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.1021, Longitude: -81.1162 In this case, the coordinates for Bland 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 Bland 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> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Bland, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Bland to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.371 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.998 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.042 degrees. |