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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in DeWitt, we use the following websites to find information relevant to DeWitt 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 DeWitt:
    • 37.038761, -77.643324
    • 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 DeWitt
  • 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 Dinwiddie County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dinwiddie County
    • Since DeWitt is near Brunswick County and also Amelia County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Brunswick County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Amelia 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 DeWitt

Communities Also Named DeWitt ...

We found six communities that are also named DeWitt.

There is one other community in Virginia that is also named DeWitt.

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

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Fairfax 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 DeWitt [Fairfax County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Marin County
      • This DeWitt is located in Marin County and lies 2,434 miles [3,917.1 km]<2> to the west northwest of the DeWitt that is located in Dinwiddie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marin County community of DeWitt.
    • Kansas
      • Washington 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 Kansas community of DeWitt [Washington County].
    • Kentucky
      • Knox County
      • This DeWitt is located in Knox County and lies 336 miles [540.7 km]<2> to the west of the DeWitt that is located in Dinwiddie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Knox County community of DeWitt.
    • North Carolina
      • Henderson 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 North Carolina community of DeWitt [Henderson County].
    • West Virginia
      • Fayette County
      • This DeWitt is located in Fayette County and lies 200 miles [321.9 km]<2> to the west northwest of the DeWitt that is located in Dinwiddie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of DeWitt.

Curious and Interesting Names Near DeWitt ...

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.

  • Carson
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Carson is located in Dinwiddie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carson
  • Champ
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Champ is located in Dinwiddie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Champ
  • Five Forks
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Five Forks is located in Dinwiddie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Forks
  • Harpers
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Harpers is located in Dinwiddie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harpers
  • Hebron
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Hebron is located in Dinwiddie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hebron
  • Hickory Run
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Hickory Run is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Run
  • Jack
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jack is located in Dinwiddie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jack
  • Reams
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Reams is located in Dinwiddie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reams
  • Rivers Edge
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Rivers Edge is located in Greensville County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rivers Edge
  • Rocky Run
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Rocky Run is located in Dinwiddie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Run
  • Stony Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Stony Springs is located in Dinwiddie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Springs
  • Sturgeonville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Sturgeonville is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sturgeonville
  • Virginia Hills
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Virginia Hills is located in Dinwiddie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Hills
  • Willow Oaks
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Willow Oaks is located in Greensville County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Oaks

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

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

  • Dinwiddie, which is the Seat of Dinwiddie County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 36 miles [57.9 km]<2> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could walk a straight line from DeWitt to Richmond, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 132 miles [212.4 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,003 miles [9,660.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,701 miles [10,784.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,580 miles [7,370.8 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 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 DeWitt 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- DeWitt) 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 DeWitt 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 DeWitt. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.0388, Longitude: -77.6433       In this case, the coordinates for DeWitt have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.341 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.669 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.651 degrees.