RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Louisa County >> Gum Spring >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gum Spring, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gum Spring 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 Gum Spring:
    • 37.775700, -77.896662
    • 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 Gum Spring
  • 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 Louisa County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Louisa County
    • Since Gum Spring is near Goochland County and also Powhatan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Goochland County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Powhatan 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 Gum Spring

Communities Also Named Gum Spring ...

We found six communities that are also named Gum Spring.

Within Virginia, the name Gum Spring is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Morgan County
      • This Gum Spring is located in Morgan County and lies 548 miles [881.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Gum Spring that is located in Louisa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morgan County community of Gum Spring.
    • Kansas
      • Wabaunsee 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 Kansas community of Gum Spring [Wabaunsee County].
    • Mississippi
      • Scott County
      • This Gum Spring is located in Scott County and lies 747 miles [1,202.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Gum Spring that is located in Louisa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Scott County community of Gum Spring.
    • Tennessee
      • Cocke County
      • This Gum Spring is located in Cocke County and lies 318 miles [511.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Gum Spring that is located in Louisa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cocke County community of Gum Spring.
      • White County
      • This Gum Spring is located in White County and lies 443 miles [712.9 km] to the west southwest of the Gum Spring that is located in Louisa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the White County community of Gum Spring.
    • West Virginia
      • Monongalia County
      • This Gum Spring is located in Monongalia County and lies 162 miles [260.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Gum Spring that is located in Louisa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monongalia County community of Gum Spring.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gum Spring ...

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.

  • Cedar Point
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Cedar Point is located in Goochland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Point
  • Deerwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Deerwood is located in Goochland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerwood
  • Holly Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Holly Grove is located in Louisa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Grove
  • Irwin
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Irwin is located in Goochland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irwin
  • Maidens Forest
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Maidens Forest is located in Goochland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maidens Forest
  • Mayos Woods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Mayos Woods is located in Goochland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayos Woods
  • Orchid
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Orchid is located in Louisa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchid
  • Poplar Forest
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Poplar Forest is located in Goochland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Forest
  • Running Still
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Running Still is located in Goochland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Running Still
  • Sandy Hook
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Sandy Hook is located in Goochland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Hook
  • Three Oaks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Three Oaks is located in Goochland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Oaks
  • Willowbrook
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Willowbrook is located in Louisa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willowbrook

How Far From Gum Spring to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Gum Spring to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Louisa, which is the Seat of Louisa County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Gum Spring to Louisa, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 29 miles [46.7 km] to the east southeast (ESE). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 90 miles [144.8 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,982 miles [9,627.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,684 miles [10,756.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,562 miles [7,341.8 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 from Point A (ie- Gum Spring) 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 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 Gum Spring 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>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 Gum Spring 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 Gum Spring. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.7757, Longitude: -77.8967       In this case, the coordinates for Gum Spring have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.455 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.911 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.489 degrees.