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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Dry Fork, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dry 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 Dry Fork:
    • 36.754581, -79.399747
    • 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 Dry 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 Pittsylvania County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pittsylvania County
    • Since Dry Fork is near Madison County and also Danville City, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Danville City
  • 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 Dry Fork

Communities Also Named Dry Fork ...

We found nine communities that are also named Dry Fork.

There are two communities within Virginia that are also named Dry Fork.

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

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Smyth County
      • This Dry Fork is located in Smyth County and lies 122 miles [196.3 km]<1> to the west of the Dry Fork that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Smyth County community of Dry Fork.
    • Wise County
      • This Dry Fork is located in Wise County and lies 165 miles [265.5 km]<1> to the west of the Dry Fork that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wise County community of Dry Fork.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Barren County
      • This Dry Fork is located in Barren County and lies 360 miles [579.4 km]<1> to the west of the Dry Fork that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Barren County community of Dry Fork.
      • Jackson County
      • This Dry Fork is located in Jackson County and lies 264 miles [424.9 km] to the west of the Dry Fork that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Dry Fork.
      • Lawrence County
      • Although located in Lawrence County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lawrence County community of Dry Fork.
      • Pike County
      • This Dry Fork is located in Pike County and lies 171 miles [275.2 km] to the west northwest of the Dry Fork that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pike County community of Dry Fork.
    • Montana
      • Chouteau County
      • 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 Montana community of Dry Fork [Chouteau County].
    • Tennessee
      • Davidson County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Dry Fork [Davidson County].
    • Utah
      • Uintah County
      • This Dry Fork is located in Uintah County and lies 1,644 miles [2,645.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Dry Fork that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Uintah County community of Dry Fork.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dry 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.

  • Beaver Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Beaver Park is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Park
  • Cartersville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Cartersville is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cartersville
  • Flint Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Flint Hill is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint Hill
  • Jones Mill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jones Mill is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones Mill
  • Lumpkin Forest
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Lumpkin Forest is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lumpkin Forest
  • Motleys Mill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Motleys Mill is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Motleys Mill
  • Pleasant Gap
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Pleasant Gap is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Gap
  • Spring Garden
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Spring Garden is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Garden
  • Whittletown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Whittletown is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whittletown
  • Woodlawn
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Woodlawn is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn
  • Woodlawn Heights
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Woodlawn Heights is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn Heights

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

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

  • Chatham, which is the Seat of Pittsylvania County, lies just to the North.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 120 miles [193.1 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Dry Fork to Richmond, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 196 miles [315.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,090 miles [9,800.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,792 miles [10,930.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,670 miles [7,515.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Dry Fork) 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 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 Dry 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.
<3>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Dry Fork, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Dry 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 Dry Fork. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.7546, Longitude: -79.3997       In this case, the coordinates for Dry Fork have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.367 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.799 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.452 degrees.