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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Harman, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Harman 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 Harman:
    • 37.293166, -82.202083
    • 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 Harman
  • 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 Buchanan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Buchanan County
    • Since Harman is near Dickenson County and also Pike County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dickenson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pike 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 Harman

Communities Also Named Harman ...

We found seven communities that are also named Harman.

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

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

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Tazewell County
      • This Harman is located in Tazewell County and lies 28 miles [45.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Harman that is located in Buchanan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tazewell County community of Harman.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Arapahoe 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 Colorado community of Harman [Arapahoe County].
    • Indiana
      • Jennings 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 Indiana community of Harman [Jennings County].
    • Maryland
      • Anne Arundel 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 Maryland community of Harman [Anne Arundel County].
    • North Carolina
      • Watauga 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 North Carolina community of Harman [Watauga County].
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha 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 West Virginia community of Harman [Kanawha County].
      • Randolph County
      • This Harman is located in Randolph County and lies 183 miles [294.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the Harman that is located in Buchanan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Randolph County community of Harman.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Harman ...

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 Bottom
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Beaver Bottom is located in Pike County (KY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Bottom
  • Beaver Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Beaver Creek is located in Pike County (KY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Creek
  • Big Rock
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Big Rock is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Rock
  • Birchleaf
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Birchleaf is located in Dickenson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birchleaf
  • Cedarville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Cedarville is located in Pike County (KY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarville
  • Deel
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Deel is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deel
  • Elkhorn City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Federal
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Federal is located in Pike County (KY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Federal
  • Fedscreek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Fedscreek is located in Pike County (KY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fedscreek
  • Home Creek
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Home Creek is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Home Creek
  • Lick Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Lick Creek is located in Pike County (KY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lick Creek
  • Longbottom
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Longbottom is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longbottom
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Mart
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Mart is located in Dickenson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mart
    • Maxie
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Maxie is located in Buchanan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxie
    • Mikegrady
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Mikegrady is located in Pike County (KY)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mikegrady
    • Motley
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Motley is located in Pike County (KY)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Motley
    • Pearly
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Pearly is located in Buchanan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearly
    • Royal City
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Royal City is located in Buchanan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal City
    • Tookland
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Tookland is located in Buchanan County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tookland

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

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

  • Grundy, which is the Seat of Buchanan County, lies just to the East.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 261 miles [420 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Harman to Richmond, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 15 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 301 miles [484.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 18 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,184 miles [9,952.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,896 miles [11,098 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,771 miles [7,678.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Harman) 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 Harman 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Harman 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 Harman. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.2932, Longitude: -82.2021       In this case, the coordinates for Harman have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.019 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.767 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.436 degrees.