Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Gratton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gratton and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Gratton
- 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 Gratton:
- 37.134838, -81.413995
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Gratton
- 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:
- eBird sighting report for Tazewell County
- Since Gratton is near Bland County and also McDowell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Bland County
- eBird sighting report for McDowell 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Gratton ...
We found three communities that share the name Gratton.
Within Virginia, the name Gratton is unique.
Beyond Virginia, we know of another three communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these three communities, .
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Michigan
- Ontario
- Pennsylvania
Curious and Interesting Names Near Gratton ...
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.
- Abbs Valley
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abbs Valley
- Abbs Valley is located in Tazewell County
- Cove Creek
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cove Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cove Creek
- Cove Creek is located in Tazewell County
- Drytown
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west) - Five Oaks
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west) - Fourway
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west) - Frog Level
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Frog Level have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frog Level
- Frog Level is located in Tazewell County
- Horsepen
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest) - Horsepen Cove
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Horsepen Cove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horsepen Cove
- Horsepen Cove is located in Tazewell County
- Joe Neets
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Continue List (6 more) ...
- Little Town
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Little Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Town
- Little Town is located in Tazewell County
- Mud Fork
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest) - River Jack
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for River Jack have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Jack
- River Jack is located in Tazewell County
- Sam
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast) - Stony Ridge
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stony Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Ridge
- Stony Ridge is located in Tazewell County
- Tiptop
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Little Town
How Far From Gratton 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 Gratton to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Gratton and extending to:
- Tazewell, which is the Seat of Tazewell County, lies just to the West.
- Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 220 miles [354.1 km]<3> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Gratton to Richmond, with an average speed<4>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 267 miles [429.7 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,159 miles [9,911.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,867 miles [11,051.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,744 miles [7,634.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Gratton. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Virginia: https://www.virginia.gov/
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 Gratton 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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <3> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Gratton) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Gratton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.1348, Longitude: -81.4140 In this case, the coordinates for Gratton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Gratton to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.548 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.205 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.155 degrees. |