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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lois, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lois 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 Lois:
    • 38.525125, -77.726380
    • 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 Lois
  • 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 Fauquier County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fauquier County
    • Since Lois is near Culpeper County and also Stafford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Culpeper County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Stafford 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 Lois

Communities Also Named Lois ...

We found ten communities that are also named Lois.

Within Virginia, the name Lois is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Tulare County
      • This Lois is located in Tulare County and lies 2,256 miles [3,630.7 km]<1> to the west of the Lois that is located in Fauquier County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tulare County community of Lois.
    • Florida
      • Jefferson County
      • This Lois is located in Jefferson County and lies 654 miles [1,052.5 km]<1> to the southwest of the Lois that is located in Fauquier County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Lois.
    • Georgia
      • Berrien 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 Georgia community of Lois [Berrien County].
    • Kansas
      • Sherman 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 Kansas community of Lois [Sherman County].
    • Missouri
      • Maries County
      • This Lois is located in Maries County and lies 759 miles [1,221.5 km]<1> to the west of the Lois that is located in Fauquier County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Maries County community of Lois.
    • Ohio
      • Scioto County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Scioto County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Scioto County community of Lois.
    • Tennessee
      • Moore County
      • This Lois is located in Moore County and lies 528 miles [849.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Lois that is located in Fauquier County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Moore County community of Lois.
    • Texas
      • Cooke County
      • This Lois is located in Cooke County and lies 1,141 miles [1,836.3 km]<1> to the west of the Lois that is located in Fauquier County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cooke County community of Lois.
      • Harris County
      • This Lois is located in Harris County and lies 1,176 miles [1,892.6 km] to the west southwest of the Lois that is located in Fauquier County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harris County community of Lois.
    • Utah
      • Salt Lake County
      • This Lois is located in Salt Lake County and lies 1,811 miles [2,914.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Lois that is located in Fauquier County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Salt Lake County community of Lois.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lois ...

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.

  • Bleak
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Bleak is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bleak
  • Elk Run
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Elk Run is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Run
  • Golden Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Golden Hills is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden Hills
  • Goldvein
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Kellys Ford
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Kellys Ford is located in Culpeper County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellys Ford
  • Liberty
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Liberty is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
  • Mount Holly
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Mount Holly is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Holly
  • Oak Shade
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Oak Shade is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Shade
  • Queens Guard
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Queens Guard is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queens Guard
  • Silver Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Silver Hill is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Hill
  • Sumerduck
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Sunny Knoll
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Sunny Knoll is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunny Knoll
  • Weaverville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Weaverville is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weaverville

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

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

  • Warrenton, which is the Seat of Fauquier County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Lois to Warrenton, 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 69 miles [111 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 45 miles [72.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,943 miles [9,564.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,648 miles [10,698.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,525 miles [7,282.3 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- Lois) 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 Lois 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 Lois, 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 Lois 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 Lois. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5251, Longitude: -77.7264       In this case, the coordinates for Lois have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.318 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.869 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.144 degrees.