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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Marsailles, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Marsailles 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 Marsailles:
    • 36.682916, -78.983067
    • 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 Marsailles
  • 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 Halifax County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Halifax County
    • Since Marsailles is near Person County and also Fluvanna County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Person County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fluvanna 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 Marsailles

Curious and Interesting Names Near Marsailles ...

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.

  • Cedar Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Centerville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Centerville is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
  • Cluster Springs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Cluster Springs is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cluster Springs
  • Jones
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jones is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones
  • Mountain Road
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Mountain Road is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Road
  • Pleasant Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Terrys Corner
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Terrys Corner is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terrys Corner
  • Woodlawn Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Woodlawn Park is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn Park

How Far From Marsailles 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 Marsailles 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<1> community of Marsailles once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Marsailles and extending to:

  • Halifax, which is the Seat of Halifax County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 103 miles [165.8 km]<2> to the northeast (NE). If you could drive a straight line from Marsailles to Richmond, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 4 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 186 miles [299.3 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,076 miles [9,778.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,776 miles [10,904.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,655 miles [7,491.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Marsailles, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 drawn from Point A (ie- Marsailles) 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 Marsailles 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 Marsailles. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.6829, Longitude: -78.9831       In this case, the coordinates for Marsailles have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.127 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.514 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.309 degrees.