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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Laurel Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Laurel Hills 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 Laurel Hills:
    • 38.077359, -78.701131
    • 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 Laurel Hills
  • 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 Laurel Hills is near Nelson County and also Augusta County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Nelson County
    • 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 Laurel Hills

Communities Also Named Laurel Hills ...

We found eight communities that are also named Laurel Hills.

There are two communities within Virginia that are also named Laurel Hills.

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

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Prince William County
      • This Laurel Hills is located in Prince William County and lies 84 miles [135.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Laurel Hills that is located in Albemarle County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Prince William County community of Laurel Hills.
    • Roanoke County
      • This Laurel Hills is located in Roanoke County and lies 93 miles [149.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Laurel Hills that is located in Albemarle County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke County community of Laurel Hills.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Tuscaloosa County
      • This Laurel Hills is located in Tuscaloosa County and lies 596 miles [959.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Laurel Hills that is located in Albemarle County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tuscaloosa County community of Laurel Hills.
    • Georgia
      • Cobb County
      • This Laurel Hills is located in Cobb County and lies 434 miles [698.5 km]<1> to the southwest of the Laurel Hills that is located in Albemarle County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cobb County community of Laurel Hills.
      • Hall County
      • This Laurel Hills is located in Hall County and lies 382 miles [614.8 km] to the southwest of the Laurel Hills that is located in Albemarle County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hall County community of Laurel Hills.
      • Muscogee County
      • This Laurel Hills is located in Muscogee County and lies 522 miles [840.1 km] to the southwest of the Laurel Hills that is located in Albemarle County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Muscogee County community of Laurel Hills.
    • North Carolina
      • Wake 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 Laurel Hills [Wake County].
    • South Carolina
      • Greenville County
      • This Laurel Hills is located in Greenville County and lies 293 miles [471.5 km]<1> to the southwest of the Laurel Hills that is located in Albemarle County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greenville County community of Laurel Hills.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Laurel Hills ...

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.

  • Broad Axe ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Broad Axe is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Broad Axe
  • Freetown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Freetown is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freetown
  • Greenwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Ivy
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Ivy Meadows
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Ivy Meadows is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivy Meadows
  • Ivy Oaks
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Ivy Oaks is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivy Oaks
  • Ivy Woods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Ivy Woods is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivy Woods
  • Peacock Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Peacock Hill is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peacock Hill
  • Skyline Crest
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Skyline Crest is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skyline Crest
  • Whispering Pines
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Whispering Pines is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whispering Pines
  • Yancey Mills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Yancey Mills is located in Albemarle County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yancey Mills

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

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

  • Charlottesville, which is the Seat of Albemarle County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Laurel Hills to Charlottesville, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 78 miles [125.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 106 miles [170.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,003 miles [9,660.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,709 miles [10,797.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,586 miles [7,380.5 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Laurel Hills) 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 Laurel Hills 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 Laurel Hills 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 Laurel Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.0774, Longitude: -78.7011       In this case, the coordinates for Laurel Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.914 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.48 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.713 degrees.