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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Chesapeake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Chesapeake 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 Chesapeake:
    • 36.762842, -76.268218
    • 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 Chesapeake
  • 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 Chesapeake

Communities Also Named Chesapeake ...

We found six communities that are also named Chesapeake.

There is one other community in Virginia that is also named Chesapeake.

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

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Northampton County
      • This Chesapeake is located in Northampton County and lies 41 miles [66 km]<1> to the north northeast.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Northampton County community of Chesapeake.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Cecil 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 Maryland community of Chesapeake [Cecil County].
    • Missouri
      • Lawrence County
      • This Chesapeake is located in Lawrence County and lies 959 miles [1,543.4 km]<1> to the west.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lawrence County community of Chesapeake.
    • Ohio
      • Lawrence County
      • This Chesapeake is located in Lawrence County and lies 357 miles [574.5 km]<1> to the west northwest.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lawrence County community of Chesapeake.
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha County
      • This Chesapeake is located in Kanawha County and lies 305 miles [490.8 km]<1> to the west northwest.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kanawha County community of Chesapeake.
      • Marion County
      • This Chesapeake is located in Marion County and lies 283 miles [455.4 km] to the northwest.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Chesapeake.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Chesapeake ...

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.

  • Butts
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Butts is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butts
  • Cloverdale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Cloverdale is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
  • College Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • College Park is located in Virginia Beach City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Park
  • Deep Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Deep Creek is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep Creek
  • Edmonds Corner
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Edmonds Corner is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edmonds Corner
  • Foundation Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Foundation Park is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foundation Park
  • Geneva Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Geneva Park is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva Park
  • Geneva Shores
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Geneva Shores is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva Shores
  • Grassfield
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Grassfield is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grassfield
  • Great Bridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Great Bridge is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Bridge
  • Great Bridge Gardens
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Great Bridge Gardens is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Bridge Gardens
  • Herberts Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Herberts Corner is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herberts Corner
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Indian River Park
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Indian River Park is located in Chesapeake City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian River Park
    • Knob Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Knob Hill is located in Virginia Beach City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knob Hill
    • Level Green
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Level Green is located in Virginia Beach City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Level Green
    • Oak Grove
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Oak Grove is located in Chesapeake City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
    • Plantation Lakes
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Plantation Lakes is located in Chesapeake City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plantation Lakes
    • Providence Junction
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Providence Junction is located in Chesapeake City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence Junction
    • Sherry Park
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Sherry Park is located in Virginia Beach City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sherry Park
    • Williams Court
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Williams Court is located in Portsmouth City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams Court
    • Woodland Terrace
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Woodland Terrace is located in Chesapeake City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Terrace

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 83 miles [133.6 km]<1> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Chesapeake 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 153 miles [246.2 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 5,954 miles [9,582 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,648 miles [10,698.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,530 miles [7,290.3 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Chesapeake) 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 Chesapeake 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.
<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 Chesapeake 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 Chesapeake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.7628, Longitude: -76.2682    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.568 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.746 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.21 degrees.