RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Bland County >> Clear Fork >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Clear Fork, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Clear Fork 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 Clear Fork:
    • 37.212062, -81.187318
    • 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 Clear Fork
  • 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 Bland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bland County
    • Since Clear Fork is near Mercer County and also Tazewell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mercer County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tazewell 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 Clear Fork

Communities Also Named Clear Fork ...

We found four communities that are also named Clear Fork.

Within Virginia, the name Clear Fork is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Bell County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Clear Fork [Bell County].
    • Missouri
      • Johnson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Missouri community of Clear Fork [Johnson County].
    • Texas
      • Caldwell County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Clear Fork [Caldwell County].
    • West Virginia
      • Wyoming County
      • This Clear Fork is located in Wyoming County and lies 39 miles [62.8 km]<2> to the northwest of the Clear Fork that is located in Bland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wyoming County community of Clear Fork.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Clear Fork ...

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.

  • Brush Fork
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Brush Fork is located in Mercer County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brush Fork
  • Cove Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Cove Creek is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cove Creek
  • Edison
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Edison is located in Mercer County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edison
  • Falls Mills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Falls Mills is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falls Mills
  • Grapefield
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Grapefield is located in Bland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grapefield
  • Green Valley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Green Valley is located in Mercer County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
  • Hales Bottom
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Hales Bottom is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hales Bottom
  • Hicksville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Hicksville is located in Bland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hicksville
  • Littlesburg
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Littlesburg is located in Mercer County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littlesburg
  • Maple View
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Maple View is located in Mercer County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple View
  • Rocky Gap
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Rocky Gap is located in Bland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Gap
  • Round Bottom
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Round Bottom is located in Bland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Bottom
  • Suiter
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Suiter is located in Bland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Suiter

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

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

  • Bland, which is the Seat of Bland County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 207 miles [333.1 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Clear Fork to Richmond, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 12 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 253 miles [407.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,146 miles [9,891 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,854 miles [11,030.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,730 miles [7,612.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Clear Fork 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Clear Fork) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Clear Fork 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 Clear Fork. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.2121, Longitude: -81.1873       In this case, the coordinates for Clear Fork have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.412 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.061 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.036 degrees.