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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hinton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hinton 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 Hinton:
    • 38.465938, -78.972434
    • 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 Hinton
  • 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 Rockingham County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rockingham County
    • Since Hinton is near Harrisonburg City and also Augusta County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harrisonburg City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Augusta 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 Hinton

Communities Also Named Hinton ...

We found fourteen communities that are also named Hinton.

Within Virginia, the name Hinton is unique.

Beyond Virginia, we know of fourteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these fourteen communities, thirteen are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Choctaw County
      • This Hinton is located in Choctaw County and lies 691 miles [1,112.1 km]<1> to the southwest of the Hinton that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Choctaw County community of Hinton.
    • Alberta
      • This Hinton lies 2,086 miles [3,357.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Hinton that is located in Rockingham County.
    • California
      • Nevada County
      • This Hinton is located in Nevada County and lies 2,189 miles [3,522.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Hinton that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nevada County community of Hinton.
    • Georgia
      • Pickens County
      • This Hinton is located in Pickens County and lies 415 miles [667.9 km]<1> to the southwest of the Hinton that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pickens County community of Hinton.
    • Illinois
      • Vermilion 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 Illinois community of Hinton [Vermilion County].
    • Iowa
      • Plymouth County
      • This Hinton is located in Plymouth County and lies 951 miles [1,530.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Hinton that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Plymouth County community of Hinton.
    • Kentucky
      • Harrison County
      • This Hinton is located in Harrison County and lies 300 miles [482.8 km]<1> to the west of the Hinton that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harrison County community of Hinton.
      • Scott 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 Kentucky community of Hinton [Scott County].
    • Missouri
      • Boone County
      • This Hinton is located in Boone County and lies 720 miles [1,158.7 km]<1> to the west of the Hinton that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boone County community of Hinton.
    • North Carolina
      • Guilford 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 Hinton [Guilford County].
      • Wake County
      • This Hinton is located in Wake County and lies 186 miles [299.3 km]<1> to the south of the Hinton that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wake County community of Hinton.
    • Ohio
      • Mercer County
      • This Hinton is located in Mercer County and lies 339 miles [545.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Hinton that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mercer County community of Hinton.
    • Oklahoma
      • Caddo County
      • This Hinton is located in Caddo County and lies 1,086 miles [1,747.7 km]<1> to the west of the Hinton that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Caddo County community of Hinton.
    • West Virginia
      • Summers County
      • This Hinton is located in Summers County and lies 117 miles [188.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Hinton that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Summers County community of Hinton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Hinton ...

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.

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

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

  • Harrisonburg, which is the Seat of Rockingham County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 105 miles [169 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Hinton to Richmond, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 108 miles [173.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,998 miles [9,652.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,706 miles [10,792.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,582 miles [7,374 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Hinton) 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 Hinton 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 Hinton 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 Hinton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.4659, Longitude: -78.9724    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.059 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.703 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.689 degrees.