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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Highgate, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Highgate 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 Highgate:
    • 37.127370, -76.743292
    • 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 Highgate
  • 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 Surry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Surry County
    • Since Highgate is near Isle of Wight County and also James City County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Isle of Wight County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for James City 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 Highgate

Communities Also Named Highgate ...

We found five communities that are also named Highgate.

Within Virginia, the name Highgate is unique.

Beyond Virginia, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, three are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Richmond County
      • This Highgate is located in Richmond County and lies 390 miles [627.6 km]<1> to the southwest of the Highgate that is located in Surry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richmond County community of Highgate.
    • Ontario
      • This Highgate lies 458 miles [737.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Highgate that is located in Surry County.
    • Saskatchewan
      • This Highgate lies 1,867 miles [3,004.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Highgate that is located in Surry County.
    • Tennessee
      • Williamson County
      • This Highgate is located in Williamson County and lies 565 miles [909.3 km]<1> to the west of the Highgate that is located in Surry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Williamson County community of Highgate.
    • Vermont
      • Franklin 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 Vermont community of Highgate [Franklin County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Highgate ...

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.

  • Alliance
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Alliance is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alliance
  • California Crossroads
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Holly Point
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Holly Point is located in Isle of Wight County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Point
  • Homewood
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Homewood is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homewood
  • Jamestown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Moonlight
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Moonlight is located in Isle of Wight County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moonlight
  • Moorings
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Moorings is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moorings
  • Mount Pleasant
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Pleasant Point
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Pleasant Point is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Point
  • Scotland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Scotland is located in Surry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scotland

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

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

  • Surry, which is the Seat of Surry County, lies just to the West.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 47 miles [75.6 km]<1> to the northwest (NW). If you could walk a straight line from Highgate to Richmond, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 123 miles [197.9 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,960 miles [9,591.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,656 miles [10,711.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,536 miles [7,300 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Highgate) 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 Highgate 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 Highgate 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 Highgate. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.1274, Longitude: -76.7433       In this case, the coordinates for Highgate have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.82 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.089 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.262 degrees.