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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Callaway, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Callaway 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 Callaway:
    • 37.011527, -80.049481
    • 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 Callaway
  • 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 Franklin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin County
    • Since Callaway is near Floyd County and also Roanoke County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Floyd County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Roanoke 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 Callaway

Communities Also Named Callaway ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Callaway.

Within Virginia, the name Callaway is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Bay County
      • This Callaway is located in Bay County and lies 570 miles [917.3 km]<1> to the southwest of the Callaway that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bay County community of Callaway.
    • Georgia
      • Wilkes County
      • This Callaway is located in Wilkes County and lies 272 miles [437.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Callaway that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wilkes County community of Callaway.
    • Indiana
      • Jefferson 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 Indiana community of Callaway [Jefferson County].
    • Kentucky
      • Bell County
      • This Callaway is located in Bell County and lies 194 miles [312.2 km]<1> to the west of the Callaway that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bell County community of Callaway.
    • Louisiana
      • Richland Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Callaway [Richland Parish].
      • Union Parish
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Callaway [Union Parish].
    • Maryland
      • Saint Mary's County
      • This Callaway is located in Saint Mary's County and lies 210 miles [338 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Callaway that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Mary's County community of Callaway.
    • Minnesota
      • Becker County
      • This Callaway is located in Becker County and lies 1,062 miles [1,709.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Callaway that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Becker County community of Callaway.
    • Missouri
      • Callaway County
      • This Callaway is located in Callaway County and lies 660 miles [1,062.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Callaway that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Callaway County community of Callaway.
    • Nebraska
      • Custer County
      • This Callaway is located in Custer County and lies 1,101 miles [1,771.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Callaway that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Custer County community of Callaway.
    • West Virginia
      • Raleigh 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 West Virginia community of Callaway [Raleigh County].
      • Wyoming County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Callaway [Wyoming County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Callaway ...

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.

  • Airpoint
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Airpoint is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Airpoint
  • Arsenic Mine ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Arsenic Mine is located in Floyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arsenic Mine
  • Copper Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Cross Roads
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Cross Roads is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
  • Hay Run
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Hay Run is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hay Run
  • Helm
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Helm is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helm
  • Hemlock
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Hemlock is located in Floyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hemlock
  • Henry Fork
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Henry Fork is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henry Fork
  • Rocky Mount
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Smart
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Smart is located in Floyd County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smart

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

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

  • Rocky Mount, which is the Seat of Franklin County, lies just to the East.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 148 miles [238.2 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Callaway to Richmond, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 209 miles [336.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,107 miles [9,828.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,811 miles [10,961.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,689 miles [7,546.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Callaway) 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 Callaway 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Callaway 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 Callaway. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.0115, Longitude: -80.0495       In this case, the coordinates for Callaway have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.742 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.265 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.632 degrees.