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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Criggers, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Criggers 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 Criggers:
    • 37.054837, -81.542890
    • 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 Criggers
  • 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 Tazewell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tazewell County
    • Since Criggers is near Smyth County and also Bland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Smyth County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bland 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 Criggers

Curious and Interesting Names Near Criggers ...

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.

  • Drytown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Drytown is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drytown
  • Five Oaks
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Five Oaks is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Oaks
  • Fourway
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Fourway is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fourway
  • Frog Level
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Frog Level is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frog Level
  • Gap Store
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Gap Store is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gap Store
  • Joe Neets
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Joe Neets is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joe Neets
  • Joe Whites
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Joe Whites is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joe Whites
  • Liberty
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Liberty is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
  • Maiden Spring
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Maiden Spring is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maiden Spring
  • Maxwell
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Maxwell is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxwell
  • Ridgedale
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Ridgedale is located in Smyth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgedale
  • River Jack
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • River Jack is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Jack
  • Rockhouse
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Rockhouse is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockhouse
  • Tannersville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Tannersville is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tannersville

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Criggers and extending to:

  • Tazewell, which is the Seat of Tazewell County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 228 miles [366.9 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Criggers to Richmond, with an average speed<2>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 13 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 276 miles [444.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,168 miles [9,926.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,876 miles [11,065.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,753 miles [7,649.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

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- Criggers) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Criggers 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 Criggers. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.0548, Longitude: -81.5429       In this case, the coordinates for Criggers have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.626 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.282 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.233 degrees.