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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Bourne, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bourne 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 Bourne:
    • 38.330500, -77.384700
    • 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 Bourne
  • 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 Stafford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Stafford County
    • Since Bourne is near Fredericksburg City and also King George County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fredericksburg City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for King George 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 Bourne

Communities Also Named Bourne ...

We found four communities that are also named Bourne.

Within Virginia, the name Bourne is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Garrard County
      • This Bourne is located in Garrard County and lies 395 miles [635.7 km]<1> to the west of the Bourne that is located in Stafford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Garrard County community of Bourne.
    • Massachusetts
      • Barnstable County
      • This Bourne is located in Barnstable County and lies 428 miles [688.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Bourne that is located in Stafford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Barnstable County community of Bourne.
    • Oregon
      • Baker County
      • This Bourne is located in Baker County and lies 2,131 miles [3,429.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Bourne that is located in Stafford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baker County community of Bourne.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Bradford 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 Pennsylvania community of Bourne [Bradford County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Bourne ...

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.

  • Chapel Heights
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Chapel Heights is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Heights
  • Clearview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Clearview is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearview
  • Crows Nest Harbor
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Crows Nest Harbor is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crows Nest Harbor
  • Deacon Woods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Deacon Woods is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deacon Woods
  • Deer Forest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Deer Forest is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Forest
  • Ferry Farm
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Ferry Farm is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferry Farm
  • Ferry Road
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Ferry Road is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferry Road
  • Fines Corner
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Fines Corner is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fines Corner
  • Fritters Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Fritters Corner is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fritters Corner
  • Heather Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Heather Hills is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heather Hills
  • Hickory Ridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hickory Ridge is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Ridge
  • Hollyridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hollyridge is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollyridge
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Little Creek
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Little Creek is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Creek
    • Little Falls Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Little Falls Village is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Falls Village
    • Marshall Woods
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Marshall Woods is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall Woods
    • Misty Forest
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Misty Forest is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Misty Forest
    • Ridge Pointe
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Ridge Pointe is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridge Pointe
    • Sandy Ridge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Sandy Ridge is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Ridge
    • Stones Corner
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Stones Corner is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stones Corner
    • Sycamore Ridge
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Sycamore Ridge is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore Ridge
    • Walnut Hill
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Walnut Hill is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Hill
    • Wildcat Corner
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Wildcat Corner is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildcat Corner
    • Will-More
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Will-More is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Will-More
    • Woodlanding Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Woodlanding Village is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlanding Village
    • Woodlawn
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Woodlawn is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn

How Far From Bourne to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Bourne to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Stafford, which is the Seat of Stafford County, lies just to the North.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 54 miles [86.9 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could walk a straight line from Bourne to Richmond, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 43 miles [69.2 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,936 miles [9,553.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,640 miles [10,686 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,517 miles [7,269.4 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Bourne) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Bourne 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 Bourne 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 Bourne. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.3305, Longitude: -77.3847       In this case, the coordinates for Bourne have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.128 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.622 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.075 degrees.