RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Chesterfield County >> Columbia Park >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Columbia Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Columbia Park 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 Columbia Park:
    • 37.330149, -77.437206
    • 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 Columbia Park
  • 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 Chesterfield County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chesterfield County
    • Since Columbia Park is near Colonial Heights City and also Henrico County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Colonial Heights City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henrico 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 Columbia Park

Communities Also Named Columbia Park ...

We found six communities that are also named Columbia Park.

There is one other community in Virginia that is also named Columbia Park.

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

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Prince George 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 Virginia community of Columbia Park [Prince George County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Contra Costa 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 California community of Columbia Park [Contra Costa County].
    • Maryland
      • Charles County
      • This Columbia Park is located in Charles County and lies 90 miles [144.8 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Columbia Park that is located in Chesterfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Charles County community of Columbia Park.
      • Prince George's County
      • This Columbia Park is located in Prince George's County and lies 113 miles [181.9 km] to the north northeast of the Columbia Park that is located in Chesterfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Prince George's County community of Columbia Park.
    • Ohio
      • Cuyahoga County
      • This Columbia Park is located in Cuyahoga County and lies 368 miles [592.2 km]<2> to the northwest of the Columbia Park that is located in Chesterfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cuyahoga County community of Columbia Park.
      • Hamilton 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 Ohio community of Columbia Park [Hamilton County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Columbia Park ...

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.

  • Chester
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Chimney Corner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Chimney Corner is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chimney Corner
  • College Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • College Park is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Park
  • Courthouse Green
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Courthouse Green is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Courthouse Green
  • Crescent Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Crescent Park is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Park
  • Dutch Gap
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Dutch Gap is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dutch Gap
  • Edenshire
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Edenshire is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edenshire
  • Gay Farms
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Gay Farms is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gay Farms
  • Grove Place
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Grove Place is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Place
  • Indian Springs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Indian Springs is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Springs
  • Jean Court
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jean Court is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jean Court
  • Lakeview
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Lakeview is located in Colonial Heights City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Locust Grove
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Locust Grove is located in Chesterfield County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Grove
    • Lost Forest
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Lost Forest is located in Chesterfield County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost Forest
    • Mistwood Forest
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Mistwood Forest is located in Chesterfield County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mistwood Forest
    • Quail Oaks
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Quail Oaks is located in Chesterfield County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Oaks
    • Screamersville ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Screamersville is located in Chesterfield County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Screamersville
    • Woodlawn
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Woodlawn is located in Colonial Heights City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn

How Far From Columbia Park to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Columbia Park to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Chesterfield, which is the Seat of Chesterfield County, lies just to the Northwest.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the north (N). If you could walk a straight line from Columbia Park to Richmond, with an average speed<4> 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.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 110 miles [177 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,981 miles [9,625.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,680 miles [10,750.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,559 miles [7,337 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Columbia Park 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 '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- Columbia Park) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Columbia Park 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 Columbia Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3301, Longitude: -77.4372       In this case, the coordinates for Columbia Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.209 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.563 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.464 degrees.