RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> King and Queen County >> Cologne >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Cologne, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cologne 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 Cologne:
    • 37.530699, -76.691069
    • 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 Cologne
  • 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 King and Queen County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for King and Queen County
    • Since Cologne is near Gloucester County and also King William 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 King William 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 Cologne

Communities Also Named Cologne ...

We found four communities that are also named Cologne.

Within Virginia, the name Cologne is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Minnesota
      • Carver County
      • This Cologne is located in Carver County and lies 1,017 miles [1,636.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Cologne that is located in King and Queen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carver County community of Cologne.
    • New Jersey
      • Atlantic County
      • This Cologne is located in Atlantic County and lies 176 miles [283.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Cologne that is located in King and Queen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Atlantic County community of Cologne.
    • Texas
      • Goliad County
      • This Cologne is located in Goliad County and lies 1,328 miles [2,137.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Cologne that is located in King and Queen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Goliad County community of Cologne.
    • West Virginia
      • Cologne #
      • 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 West Virginia community of Cologne.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Cologne ...

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.

  • Holly Forks
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Holly Forks is located in New Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Forks
  • Mascot
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Mascot is located in King and Queen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mascot
  • Owl Trap
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Owl Trap is located in Gloucester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owl Trap
  • Plain View
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Plain View is located in King and Queen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plain View
  • Plum Point
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Plum Point is located in New Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum Point
  • Shanghai
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Shanghai is located in King and Queen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shanghai
  • Signpine
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Signpine is located in Gloucester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Signpine
  • Snow Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Snow Hill is located in King and Queen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snow Hill
  • Woods Crossroads
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Woods Crossroads is located in Gloucester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods Crossroads

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

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

  • King and Queen Court House, which is the Seat of King and Queen County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Cologne to King and Queen Court House, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 40 miles [64.4 km] to the west (W). 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 over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 96 miles [154.5 km] to the north (N). Driving would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,940 miles [9,559.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,639 miles [10,684.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,518 miles [7,271 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- Cologne) 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 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 Cologne 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 Cologne 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 Cologne. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.5307, Longitude: -76.6911       In this case, the coordinates for Cologne have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.769 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.092 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.091 degrees.