RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lonesome, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lonesome 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 Lonesome:
    • 36.909271, -82.329033
    • 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.
    • The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Lonesome
  • 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:
    • Waymark.com

Communities Also Named Lonesome ...

We found one communities that share the name Lonesome.

Within Virginia, the name Lonesome is unique.

Beyond Virginia, there is another community also named Lonesome in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Menifee County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Lonesome [Menifee County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lonesome ...

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.

  • Boody
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Boody have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boody
    • Boody is located in Russell County
  • Carfax
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carfax have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carfax
    • Carfax is located in Wise County
  • Dry Fork
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dry Fork have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Fork
    • Dry Fork is located in Wise County
  • John
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for John have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for John
    • John is located in Russell County
  • Mew
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mew have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mew
    • Mew is located in Russell County
  • Rural
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rural have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rural
    • Rural is located in Wise County
  • Sun
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sun have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun
    • Sun is located in Russell County
  • Temple Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Temple Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temple Hill
    • Temple Hill is located in Russell County
  • Virginia City
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Virginia City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia City
    • Virginia City is located in Wise County

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Lonesome once stood, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Lonesome and extending to:

  • Wise, which is the Seat of Wise County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<4> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Lonesome to Wise, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day 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 272 miles [437.7 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 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 319 miles [513.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,207 miles [9,989.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,917 miles [11,131.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,793 miles [7,713.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>

The official website for Wise County: www.wisecounty.org/

The official website for State of Virginia: https://www.virginia.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Lonesome 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.
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<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 Lonesome, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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- Lonesome) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Lonesome. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.9093, Longitude: -82.3290       In this case, the coordinates for Lonesome have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Lonesome to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.097 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.80 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.605 degrees.









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024