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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Magruder Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Magruder 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 Magruder Hills:
    • 37.458198, -79.123913
    • 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 Magruder 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 Amherst County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Amherst County
    • Since Magruder Hills is near Lynchburg City and also Campbell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lynchburg City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Campbell 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 Magruder Hills

Curious and Interesting Names Near Magruder 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.

  • Colony
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Colony is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colony
  • Court House Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Court House Hill is located in Lynchburg City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Court House Hill
  • Daniels Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Daniels Hill is located in Lynchburg City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daniels Hill
  • Diamond Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Diamond Hill is located in Lynchburg City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond Hill
  • Federal Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Federal Hill is located in Lynchburg City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Federal Hill
  • Great Oaks
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Great Oaks is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Oaks
  • Ivanhoe Forest
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Ivanhoe Forest is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanhoe Forest
  • Lakeview
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Lakeview is located in Amherst County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Lynchburg
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Martins Store
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Martins Store is located in Amherst County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martins Store
    • Merry Moor
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Merry Moor is located in Amherst County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merry Moor
    • Old Stage Run
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Old Stage Run is located in Amherst County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Stage Run
    • Prices Store
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Prices Store is located in Amherst County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prices Store
    • Sandy Bottom
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Sandy Bottom is located in Amherst County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Bottom
    • Viking Fiord
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Viking Fiord is located in Amherst County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Viking Fiord

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Magruder Hills and extending to:

  • Amherst, which is the Seat of Amherst County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Magruder Hills to Amherst, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 92 miles [148.1 km] to the east (E). 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 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 150 miles [241.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,048 miles [9,733.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,752 miles [10,866.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,629 miles [7,449.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Magruder Hills) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Magruder 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 Magruder Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4582, Longitude: -79.1239       In this case, the coordinates for Magruder Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.186 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.697 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.104 degrees.