RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Amherst County >> Holiday Acres >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Holiday Acres, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Holiday Acres 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 Holiday Acres:
    • 37.482364, -79.109469
    • 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 Holiday Acres
  • 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 Amherst County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Amherst County
    • Since Holiday Acres is near Lynchburg City and also Campbell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lynchburg City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Campbell 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 Holiday Acres

Communities Also Named Holiday Acres ...

We found nine communities that are also named Holiday Acres.

Within Virginia, the name Holiday Acres is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • Sussex County
      • This Holiday Acres is located in Sussex County and lies 222 miles [357.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Holiday Acres that is located in Amherst County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sussex County community of Holiday Acres.
    • Florida
      • Miami-Dade County
      • This Holiday Acres is located in Miami-Dade County and lies 806 miles [1,297.1 km]<1> to the south of the Holiday Acres that is located in Amherst County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Miami-Dade County community of Holiday Acres.
    • Louisiana
      • East Baton Rouge Parish
      • This Holiday Acres is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and lies 838 miles [1,348.6 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Holiday Acres that is located in Amherst County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the East Baton Rouge Parish community of Holiday Acres.
      • Saint Tammany Parish
      • This Holiday Acres is located in Saint Tammany Parish and lies 785 miles [1,263.3 km] to the southwest of the Holiday Acres that is located in Amherst County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Tammany Parish community of Holiday Acres.
    • Maryland
      • Carroll County
      • This Holiday Acres is located in Carroll County and lies 181 miles [291.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Holiday Acres that is located in Amherst County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carroll County community of Holiday Acres.
      • Washington County
      • This Holiday Acres is located in Washington County and lies 170 miles [273.6 km] to the north northeast of the Holiday Acres that is located in Amherst County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Holiday Acres.
    • New Mexico
      • Lincoln 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 New Mexico community of Holiday Acres [Lincoln County].
    • Ohio
      • Hamilton County
      • This Holiday Acres is located in Hamilton County and lies 309 miles [497.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Holiday Acres that is located in Amherst County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Holiday Acres.
    • South Carolina
      • Charleston County
      • This Holiday Acres is located in Charleston County and lies 331 miles [532.7 km]<1> to the south of the Holiday Acres that is located in Amherst County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Charleston County community of Holiday Acres.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Holiday Acres ...

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.

  • Coolwell
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Coolwell is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coolwell
  • Five Forks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Five Forks is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Forks
  • Great Oaks
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Great Oaks is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Oaks
  • Ivanhoe Forest
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Ivanhoe Forest is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanhoe Forest
  • Lakeview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Lakeview is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Martins Shop
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Martins Shop is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martins Shop
  • Martins Store
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Martins Store is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martins Store
  • Old Stage Run
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Old Stage Run is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Stage Run
  • Prices Store
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Prices Store is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prices Store
  • Sandy Bottom
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Sandy Bottom is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Bottom
  • Viking Fiord
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Viking Fiord is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viking Fiord

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

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

  • Amherst, which is the Seat of Amherst County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 91 miles [146.5 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Holiday Acres 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 most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 149 miles [239.8 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,046 miles [9,730.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,750 miles [10,863.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,628 miles [7,448 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Holiday Acres) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Holiday Acres 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 Holiday Acres 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 Holiday Acres. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4824, Longitude: -79.1095       In this case, the coordinates for Holiday Acres have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.177 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.69 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.089 degrees.