RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Bowers Hill >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Bowers Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bowers Hill 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 Bowers Hill:
    • 36.786816, -76.412723
    • 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 Bowers Hill
  • 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 Bowers Hill

Communities Also Named Bowers Hill ...

We found three communities that are also named Bowers Hill.

There is one other community in Virginia that is also named Bowers Hill.

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

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Norfolk City
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Bowers Hill [Norfolk City].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Connecticut
      • New Haven County
      • This Bowers Hill is located in New Haven County and lies 363 miles [584.2 km]<2> to the north northeast.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Haven County community of Bowers Hill.
    • West Virginia
      • Roane County
      • This Bowers Hill is located in Roane County and lies 300 miles [482.8 km]<2> to the west northwest.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roane County community of Bowers Hill.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Bowers Hill ...

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.

  • Bruce
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Bruce is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruce
  • Cedar Point
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar Point is located in Portsmouth City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Point
  • Davids Mill
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Davids Mill is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davids Mill
  • Green Acres
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Green Acres is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Green Lakes
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Lakes is located in Portsmouth City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Lakes
  • Green Meadow Point
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Green Meadow Point is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Meadow Point
  • Holly Cove
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Holly Cove is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Cove
  • Jester Gardens
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Jester Gardens is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jester Gardens
  • Manor View
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Manor View is located in Portsmouth City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manor View
  • Mayflower Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Mayflower Park is located in Portsmouth City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayflower Park
  • Riverbend
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Riverbend is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverbend
  • Sandy Pines
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Sandy Pines is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Pines
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Shoulders Hill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Shoulders Hill is located in Suffolk City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoulders Hill
    • Stone Bridge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Stone Bridge is located in Chesapeake City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone Bridge
    • Sunray
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Sunray is located in Chesapeake City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunray
    • Victory Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Victory Park is located in Portsmouth City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Victory Park
    • Willow Lakes
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Willow Lakes is located in Chesapeake City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Lakes

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 76 miles [122.3 km]<2> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Bowers Hill to Richmond, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 149 miles [239.8 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,960 miles [9,591.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,654 miles [10,708.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,535 miles [7,298.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Bowers Hill 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 . 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.
<2>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- Bowers Hill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Bowers Hill 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 Bowers Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.7868, Longitude: -76.4127       In this case, the coordinates for Bowers Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.649 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.842 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.257 degrees.