RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Montgomery County >> Echo Hills >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Echo Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Echo Hills 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 Echo Hills:
    • 37.137629, -80.415884
    • 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 Echo Hills
  • 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 Montgomery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Since Echo Hills is near Radford City and also Pulaski County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Radford City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pulaski 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 Echo Hills

Communities Also Named Echo Hills ...

We found four communities that are also named Echo Hills.

Within Virginia, the name Echo Hills is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jefferson County
      • This Echo Hills is located in Jefferson County and lies 423 miles [680.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Echo Hills that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Echo Hills.
      • Talladega County
      • This Echo Hills is located in Talladega County and lies 402 miles [647 km] to the southwest of the Echo Hills that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Talladega County community of Echo Hills.
    • North Carolina
      • Buncombe County
      • This Echo Hills is located in Buncombe County and lies 162 miles [260.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Echo Hills that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Buncombe County community of Echo Hills.
    • Tennessee
      • Hamblen County
      • This Echo Hills is located in Hamblen County and lies 174 miles [280 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Echo Hills that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamblen County community of Echo Hills.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Echo Hills ...

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.

  • Apple Acres
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Apple Acres is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apple Acres
  • Bangs ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Bangs is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bangs
  • Christiansburg
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Craig Mountain
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Craig Mountain is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craig Mountain
  • Diamond Pointe
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Diamond Pointe is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond Pointe
  • Lee-Hi Court
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Lee-Hi Court is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lee-Hi Court
  • Lester Place
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Lester Place is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lester Place
  • Mockingbird Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Mockingbird Hill is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mockingbird Hill
  • Mountain View Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Mountain View Park is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View Park
  • Oak Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Oak Grove is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Raintree Village
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Raintree Village is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raintree Village
  • Sleepy Hollow
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Sleepy Hollow is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sleepy Hollow
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Suburban Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Suburban Hills is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Suburban Hills
    • Victory Heights
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Victory Heights is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Victory Heights
    • Walnut Grove
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Walnut Grove is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove
    • Windmill Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Windmill Hills is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windmill Hills
    • Yellow Sulphur
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Yellow Sulphur is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yellow Sulphur
    • Yellow Sulphur Springs
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)

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

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

  • Christiansburg, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 165 miles [265.5 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Echo Hills to Richmond, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 220 miles [354.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,117 miles [9,844.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,823 miles [10,980.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,700 miles [7,563.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Echo Hills) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Echo Hills 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 Echo Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.1376, Longitude: -80.4159       In this case, the coordinates for Echo Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.955 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.528 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.741 degrees.