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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Irondale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Irondale 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 Irondale:
    • 36.843430, -82.760716
    • 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 Irondale
  • 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 Wise County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wise County
    • Since Irondale is near Lee County and also Scott County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lee County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Scott 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 Irondale

Communities Also Named Irondale ...

We found fourteen communities that are also named Irondale.

Within Virginia, the name Irondale 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
      • Jefferson County
      • This Irondale is located in Jefferson County and lies 317 miles [510.2 km]<1> to the southwest of the Irondale that is located in Wise County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Irondale.
    • Colorado
      • Adams County
      • This Irondale is located in Adams County and lies 1,213 miles [1,952.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Irondale that is located in Wise County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Adams County community of Irondale.
      • Arapahoe 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 Irondale [Arapahoe County].
    • Georgia
      • Clayton County
      • This Irondale is located in Clayton County and lies 249 miles [400.7 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Irondale that is located in Wise County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clayton County community of Irondale.
    • Illinois
      • Cook County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Irondale [Cook County].
    • Indiana
      • Madison County
      • This Irondale is located in Madison County and lies 273 miles [439.4 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Irondale that is located in Wise County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Irondale.
    • Missouri
      • Washington County
      • This Irondale is located in Washington County and lies 439 miles [706.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Irondale that is located in Wise County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Irondale.
    • New York
      • Dutchess County
      • This Irondale is located in Dutchess County and lies 606 miles [975.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Irondale that is located in Wise County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dutchess County community of Irondale.
      • Herkimer County
      • This Irondale is located in Herkimer County and lies 606 miles [975.3 km] to the northeast of the Irondale that is located in Wise County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Herkimer County community of Irondale.
    • Ohio
      • Jefferson County
      • This Irondale is located in Jefferson County and lies 279 miles [449 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Irondale that is located in Wise County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Irondale.
      • Muskingum 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 Ohio community of Irondale [Muskingum County].
    • Ontario
      • This Irondale lies 598 miles [962.4 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Irondale that is located in Wise County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Columbia 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 Pennsylvania community of Irondale [Columbia County].
    • Washington
      • Jefferson County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Washington community of Irondale [Jefferson County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Irondale ...

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.

  • Big Stone Gap
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Cracker Neck
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Cracker Neck is located in Wise County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cracker Neck
  • East Stone Gap
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • East Stone Gap is located in Wise County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Stone Gap
  • Harper
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Harper is located in Wise County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harper
  • Harvey
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Harvey is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harvey
  • Jasper
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jasper is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jasper
  • Kent Junction
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Kent Junction is located in Wise County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kent Junction
  • Roundstone
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Roundstone is located in Wise County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roundstone
  • Seminary
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Seminary is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seminary
  • Stanleytown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Stanleytown is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanleytown
  • Three Forks
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Three Forks is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Forks

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

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

  • Wise, which is the Seat of Wise County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Irondale to Wise, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 296 miles [476.4 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 342 miles [550.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 20 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,228 miles [10,023 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,939 miles [11,167.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,815 miles [7,749 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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- Irondale) 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 Irondale 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Irondale, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Irondale 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 Irondale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8434, Longitude: -82.7607       In this case, the coordinates for Irondale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.356 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.087 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.805 degrees.