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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Longdale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Longdale 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 Longdale:
    • 37.833462, -79.775604
    • 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 Longdale
  • 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 Alleghany County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alleghany County
    • Since Longdale is near Bath County and also Botetourt County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bath County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Botetourt 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 Longdale

Communities Also Named Longdale ...

We found five communities that are also named Longdale.

There are two communities within Virginia that are also named Longdale.

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

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Fairfax 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 Virginia community of Longdale [Fairfax County].
    • Henrico County
      • This Longdale is located in Henrico County and lies 126 miles [202.8 km]<2> to the east of the Longdale that is located in Alleghany County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Henrico County community of Longdale.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Seminole County
      • This Longdale is located in Seminole County and lies 636 miles [1,023.5 km]<2> to the south of the Longdale that is located in Alleghany County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Seminole County community of Longdale.
    • Oklahoma
      • Blaine County
      • This Longdale is located in Blaine County and lies 1,040 miles [1,673.7 km]<2> to the west of the Longdale that is located in Alleghany County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Blaine County community of Longdale.
    • West Virginia
      • Mason County
      • This Longdale is located in Mason County and lies 138 miles [222.1 km]<2> to the northwest of the Longdale that is located in Alleghany County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mason County community of Longdale.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Longdale ...

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.

  • California
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • California is located in Rockbridge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for California
  • Crane
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Crane is located in Bath County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crane
  • Daggers Springs
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Daggers Springs is located in Botetourt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daggers Springs
  • Fairlawn
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Fairlawn is located in Covington City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairlawn
  • Falling Spring
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Falling Spring is located in Alleghany County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falling Spring
  • Gala
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Gala is located in Botetourt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gala
  • Healing Springs
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Healing Springs is located in Bath County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Healing Springs
  • Hooks Mill
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Hooks Mill is located in Alleghany County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooks Mill
  • Hot Springs
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Iron Gate
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Iron Gate is located in Alleghany County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron Gate
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 352 people
  • Jenkins Ford
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jenkins Ford is located in Alleghany County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins Ford
  • Longdale Furnace
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Longdale Furnace is located in Alleghany County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longdale Furnace
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Maple Grove
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Maple Grove is located in Rockbridge County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
    • Nicelytown
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Nicelytown is located in Alleghany County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nicelytown
    • Rich Patch
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Rich Patch is located in Alleghany County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rich Patch
    • Rich Patch Mines
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Rich Patch Mines is located in Alleghany County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rich Patch Mines
    • Tinkertown
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Tinkertown is located in Bath County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tinkertown

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 129 miles [207.6 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Longdale to Richmond, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 165 miles [265.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,059 miles [9,751 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,766 miles [10,888.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,643 miles [7,472.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 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 Longdale 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Longdale) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Longdale 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 Longdale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.8335, Longitude: -79.7756       In this case, the coordinates for Longdale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.559 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.178 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.246 degrees.