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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Cheaden, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cheaden 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 Cheaden:
    • 37.561250, -76.489672
    • 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 Cheaden
  • 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 Middlesex County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Middlesex County
    • Since Cheaden is near Gloucester County and also Lancaster County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gloucester County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lancaster 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 Cheaden

Curious and Interesting Names Near Cheaden ...

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.

  • Christchurch
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Christchurch is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Christchurch
  • Cooper
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cooper is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooper
  • Free Shade Corner
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Free Shade Corner is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Free Shade Corner
  • Freeport
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Freeport is located in Gloucester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeport
  • Harmony Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Harmony Village is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony Village
  • Hartfield
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Locust Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Nohead Bottom
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Nohead Bottom is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nohead Bottom
  • Piankatank Shores
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Piankatank Shores is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piankatank Shores
  • Regent
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Regent is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regent
  • Stampers
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Stampers is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stampers
  • Topping
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Wake
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Wake is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wake

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<2> community of Cheaden once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Cheaden and extending to:

  • Saluda, which is the Seat of Middlesex County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 51 miles [82.1 km]<3> to the west (W). If you could walk a straight line from Cheaden to Richmond, with an average speed<4> 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 most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 96 miles [154.5 km] to the north northwest (NNW). 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,930 miles [9,543.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,628 miles [10,666.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,508 miles [7,254.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Cheaden, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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- Cheaden) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Cheaden 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 Cheaden. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.5613, Longitude: -76.4897       In this case, the coordinates for Cheaden have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.651 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.962 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.999 degrees.