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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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:
    • 37.307916, -75.951876
    • 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
  • 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 Northampton County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Northampton County
    • Since Chesapeake is near Accomack County and also Mathews County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Accomack County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mathews 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 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 ...
    • Chesapeake City
      • This Chesapeake is located in Chesapeake City and lies 47 miles [75.6 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Chesapeake that is located in Northampton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chesapeake City 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 973 miles [1,565.9 km]<1> to the west of the Chesapeake that is located in Northampton County.
      • 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 362 miles [582.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Chesapeake that is located in Northampton County.
      • 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 311 miles [500.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Chesapeake that is located in Northampton County.
      • 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 273 miles [439.4 km] to the northwest of the Chesapeake that is located in Northampton County.
      • 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.

  • Beverly
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Beverly is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beverly
  • Cherrystone
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Cherrystone is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherrystone
  • Culls
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Culls is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Culls
  • James Crossroads
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • James Crossroads is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for James Crossroads
  • Little Salisbury
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Little Salisbury is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Salisbury
  • Oyster
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Oyster is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oyster
  • Pat Town
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Pat Town is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pat Town
  • Red Bank
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Red Bank is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bank
  • Seaview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Seaview is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seaview
  • Stumptown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Stumptown is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stumptown

How Far From Chesapeake 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 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:

  • Eastville, which is the Seat of Northampton County, lies just to the North.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 82 miles [132 km]<1> to the west northwest (WNW). 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 124 miles [199.6 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,918 miles [9,524.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,613 miles [10,642.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,494 miles [7,232.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 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 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 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 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 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: 37.3079, Longitude: -75.9519       In this case, the coordinates for Chesapeake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.358 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.59 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.881 degrees.