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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hydraulic, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hydraulic 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 Hydraulic:
    • 38.094581, -78.485845
    • 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 Hydraulic
  • 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 Albemarle County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Albemarle County
    • Since Hydraulic is near Charlottesville City and also Chesterfield County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Charlottesville City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chesterfield 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 Hydraulic

Communities Also Named Hydraulic ...

We found three communities that are also named Hydraulic.

Within Virginia, the name Hydraulic is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • British Columbia
      • This Hydraulic lies 2,280 miles [3,669.3 km]<1> to the northwest of the Hydraulic that is located in Albemarle County.
    • Colorado
      • Montrose 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 Hydraulic [Montrose County].
    • Missouri
      • Saint Louis 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 Missouri community of Hydraulic [Saint Louis County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Hydraulic ...

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.

  • Barracks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Barracks is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barracks
  • Branchland
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Branchland is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Branchland
  • Chapel Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Chapel Hills is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hills
  • Clover Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Clover Hill is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clover Hill
  • Fieldbrook
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Fieldbrook is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fieldbrook
  • Four Seasons
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Four Seasons is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Seasons
  • Ivy Farms
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Ivy Farms is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivy Farms
  • Ivy Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Ivy Ridge is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivy Ridge
  • Little Clover Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Little Clover Hill is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Clover Hill
  • Queen Charlotte
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Queen Charlotte is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queen Charlotte
  • Raintree
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Raintree is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raintree
  • Squire Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Squire Hill is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Squire Hill

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

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

  • Charlottesville, which is the Seat of Albemarle County, lies just to the South.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 68 miles [109.4 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could walk a straight line from Hydraulic to Richmond, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 95 miles [152.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,993 miles [9,644.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,698 miles [10,779.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,575 miles [7,362.7 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- Hydraulic) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Hydraulic 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 Hydraulic 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 Hydraulic. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.0946, Longitude: -78.4858       In this case, the coordinates for Hydraulic have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.786 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.337 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.618 degrees.