RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Chesterfield County >> Bon Air >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Bon Air, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bon Air and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Bon Air:
    • 37.524939, -77.557743
    • 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 Bon Air
  • 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 Chesterfield County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chesterfield County
    • Since Bon Air is near Richmond County and also Richmond City, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Richmond County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Richmond City
  • 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 Bon Air

Communities Also Named Bon Air ...

We found fifteen communities that are also named Bon Air.

There is one other community in Virginia that is also named Bon Air.

Beyond Virginia, we know of fourteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these fourteen communities, fourteen are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Arlington County
      • This Bon Air is located in Arlington County and lies 95 miles [152.9 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Bon Air that is located in Chesterfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Arlington County community of Bon Air.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jefferson County
      • This Bon Air is located in Jefferson County and lies 597 miles [960.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Bon Air that is located in Chesterfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Bon Air.
      • Talladega County
      • This Bon Air is located in Talladega County and lies 574 miles [923.8 km] to the west southwest of the Bon Air that is located in Chesterfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Talladega County community of Bon Air.
    • Arkansas
      • Stone 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 Arkansas community of Bon Air [Stone County].
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Bon Air is located in Hillsborough County and lies 721 miles [1,160.3 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Bon Air that is located in Chesterfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Bon Air.
    • Kentucky
      • Letcher 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 Bon Air [Letcher County].
    • Louisiana
      • Calcasieu Parish
      • This Bon Air is located in Calcasieu Parish and lies 1,019 miles [1,639.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Bon Air that is located in Chesterfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Calcasieu Parish community of Bon Air.
    • New Jersey
      • Camden County
      • This Bon Air is located in Camden County and lies 217 miles [349.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Bon Air that is located in Chesterfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Camden County community of Bon Air.
    • North Carolina
      • Forsyth County
      • This Bon Air is located in Forsyth County and lies 176 miles [283.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Bon Air that is located in Chesterfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Forsyth County community of Bon Air.
    • Ontario
      • This Bon Air lies 606 miles [975.3 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Bon Air that is located in Chesterfield County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Allegheny County
      • This Bon Air is located in Allegheny County and lies 238 miles [383 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Bon Air that is located in Chesterfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegheny County community of Bon Air.
      • Cambria County
      • This Bon Air is located in Cambria County and lies 206 miles [331.5 km] to the north northwest of the Bon Air that is located in Chesterfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cambria County community of Bon Air.
      • Delaware County
      • This Bon Air is located in Delaware County and lies 207 miles [333.1 km] to the north northeast of the Bon Air that is located in Chesterfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Delaware County community of Bon Air.
    • Tennessee
      • Sumner County
      • This Bon Air is located in Sumner County and lies 488 miles [785.4 km]<1> to the west of the Bon Air that is located in Chesterfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sumner County community of Bon Air.
      • White County
      • This Bon Air is located in White County and lies 445 miles [716.2 km] to the west of the Bon Air that is located in Chesterfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the White County community of Bon Air.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Bon Air ...

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.

  • Cherokee Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Cherokee Hills is located in Richmond County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee Hills
  • Grand Summit
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Grand Summit is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Summit
  • Granite
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Granite is located in Richmond City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granite
  • Gravel Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Gravel Hill is located in Richmond City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gravel Hill
  • Hobby Hill Farms
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Hobby Hill Farms is located in Richmond County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobby Hill Farms
  • Holiday Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Holiday Hills is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hills
  • Mooreland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Mooreland is located in Henrico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mooreland
  • Old Gun
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Old Gun is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Gun
  • Spring Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Spring Grove is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Grove
  • Willow Oaks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Willow Oaks is located in Richmond City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Oaks
  • Wiseville ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Wiseville is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wiseville

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

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

  • Chesterfield, which is the Seat of Chesterfield County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Bon Air to Chesterfield, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies just to the east (E).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 98 miles [157.7 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,978 miles [9,620.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,678 miles [10,747.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,557 miles [7,333.8 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Bon Air) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Bon Air 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 Bon Air 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 Bon Air. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.5249, Longitude: -77.5577    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.27 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.662 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.442 degrees.