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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Blessing, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blessing 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 Blessing:
    • 36.935675, -81.205096
    • 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 Blessing
  • 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 Wythe County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wythe County
    • Since Blessing is near Smyth County and also Bland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Smyth County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bland 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 Blessing

Communities Also Named Blessing ...

We found three communities that are also named Blessing.

Within Virginia, the name Blessing is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Black Hawk County
      • This Blessing is located in Black Hawk County and lies 703 miles [1,131.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Blessing that is located in Wythe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Black Hawk County community of Blessing.
    • Ohio
      • Fayette County
      • This Blessing is located in Fayette County and lies 231 miles [371.8 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Blessing that is located in Wythe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Blessing.
    • Texas
      • Matagorda County
      • This Blessing is located in Matagorda County and lies 1,031 miles [1,659.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Blessing that is located in Wythe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Matagorda County community of Blessing.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Blessing ...

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.

  • Beaver
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Beaver is located in Wythe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver
  • Blacklick
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Blacklick is located in Wythe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blacklick
  • Cedar Springs
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedar Springs is located in Smyth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Springs
  • Cripple Creek
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Cripple Creek is located in Wythe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cripple Creek
  • Crockett
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Eagle Oak
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Eagle Oak is located in Bland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Oak
  • Grubb
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Grubb is located in Wythe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grubb
  • Rural Retreat
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Speedwell
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Speedwell is located in Wythe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Speedwell
  • Stones Mill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Stones Mill is located in Wythe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stones Mill
  • Stringtown
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Stringtown is located in Wythe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stringtown

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

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

  • Wytheville, which is the Seat of Wythe County, lies just to the East.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 211 miles [339.6 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Blessing to Richmond, with an average speed<3>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 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 264 miles [424.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,159 miles [9,911.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,866 miles [11,049.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,743 miles [7,633.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Blessing) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Blessing 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 Blessing. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.9357, Longitude: -81.2051       In this case, the coordinates for Blessing have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.426 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.036 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.13 degrees.