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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Harmon Forest, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Harmon Forest 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 Harmon Forest:
    • 37.125407, -80.435885
    • 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 Harmon Forest
  • 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 Harmon Forest 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 Harmon Forest

Curious and Interesting Names Near Harmon Forest ...

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

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Harmon Forest and extending to:

  • Christiansburg, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies just to the East.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 167 miles [268.8 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Harmon Forest 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 221 miles [355.7 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 6,118 miles [9,846 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,824 miles [10,982.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,701 miles [7,565.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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- Harmon Forest) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Harmon Forest 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 Harmon Forest. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.1254, Longitude: -80.4359       In this case, the coordinates for Harmon Forest have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.967 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.54 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.753 degrees.