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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Claiborne, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Claiborne 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 Claiborne:
    • 38.159854, -77.455539
    • 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 Claiborne
  • 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 Caroline County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Caroline County
    • Since Claiborne is near Spotsylvania County and also Stafford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Spotsylvania County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Stafford 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 Claiborne

Communities Also Named Claiborne ...

We found seven communities that are also named Claiborne.

Within Virginia, the name Claiborne is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Monroe County
      • This Claiborne is located in Monroe County and lies 729 miles [1,173.2 km]<1> to the southwest of the Claiborne that is located in Caroline County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monroe County community of Claiborne.
    • Louisiana
      • Ouachita Parish
      • This Claiborne is located in Ouachita Parish and lies 915 miles [1,472.5 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Claiborne that is located in Caroline County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ouachita Parish community of Claiborne.
      • Saint Tammany 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 Claiborne [Saint Tammany Parish].
    • Maryland
      • Talbot County
      • This Claiborne is located in Talbot County and lies 79 miles [127.1 km]<1> to the northeast of the Claiborne that is located in Caroline County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Talbot County community of Claiborne.
    • Mississippi
      • Hancock 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 Mississippi community of Claiborne [Hancock County].
      • Jasper County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Mississippi community of Claiborne [Jasper County].
    • Ohio
      • Union County
      • This Claiborne is located in Union County and lies 350 miles [563.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Claiborne that is located in Caroline County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Union County community of Claiborne.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Claiborne ...

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.

  • Bullocks Corner
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Bullocks Corner is located in Caroline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bullocks Corner
  • Carters Store
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Carters Store is located in Spotsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carters Store
  • Fourmile Fork
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Fourmile Fork is located in Spotsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fourmile Fork
  • Greenfield
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Greenfield is located in Spotsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield
  • Guinea
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Guinea is located in Caroline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guinea
  • Hams Ford
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hams Ford is located in Spotsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hams Ford
  • Liberty
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Liberty is located in Caroline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
  • Locks Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Locks Corner is located in Caroline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locks Corner
  • Long Branch
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Long Branch is located in Caroline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Branch
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Mica
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Mica is located in Caroline County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mica
    • Nancy Wrights Corner
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Nancy Wrights Corner is located in Caroline County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nancy Wrights Corner
    • Old Trap
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Old Trap is located in Spotsylvania County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Trap
    • Olive
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Olive is located in Caroline County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olive
    • Pullers Corner
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Pullers Corner is located in Caroline County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pullers Corner
    • Young Corner
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Young Corner is located in Caroline County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Young Corner

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

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

  • Bowling Green, which is the Seat of Caroline County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Claiborne to Bowling Green, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 42 miles [67.6 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 55 miles [88.5 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,947 miles [9,570.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,649 miles [10,700.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,527 miles [7,285.5 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- Claiborne) 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 Claiborne 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>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 Claiborne, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Claiborne 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 Claiborne. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.1599, Longitude: -77.4555       In this case, the coordinates for Claiborne have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.178 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.654 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.167 degrees.