RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Montgomery County >> McDonalds Mill >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McDonalds Mill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McDonalds Mill 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 McDonalds Mill:
    • 37.300131, -80.275601
    • 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 McDonalds Mill
  • 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 Montgomery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Since McDonalds Mill is near Roanoke County and also Craig County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Roanoke County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Craig 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 McDonalds Mill

Communities Also Named McDonalds Mill ...

We found one communities that are also named McDonalds Mill.

Within Virginia, the name McDonalds Mill is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Coffee 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 Georgia community of McDonalds Mill [Coffee County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near McDonalds Mill ...

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.

  • Bear Rock
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Bear Rock is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Rock
  • Cedar Orchard
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedar Orchard is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Orchard
  • Cherokee Hills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Cherokee Hills is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee Hills
  • Clover Valley
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Clover Valley is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clover Valley
  • Evergreen
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Evergreen is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
  • Glen Forest
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Glen Forest is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Forest
  • Hunters Ridge
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Hunters Ridge is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Ridge
  • Jones
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jones is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones
  • Knob Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Knob Hill is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knob Hill
  • Lewis Place
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Lewis Place is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewis Place
  • Meadow Brook
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Meadow Brook is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Brook
  • Meadow Run
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Meadow Run is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Run
  • Continue List   (12 more) ...
    • Murphy
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Murphy is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murphy
    • Orchard View
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Orchard View is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchard View
    • Patrick Henry Place
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Patrick Henry Place is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patrick Henry Place
    • Pheasant Run
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Pheasant Run is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pheasant Run
    • Quail Crossing
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Quail Crossing is located in Roanoke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Crossing
    • Rainbow Ridge
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Rainbow Ridge is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainbow Ridge
    • Silver Leaf
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Silver Leaf is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Leaf
    • Sinking Creek
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Sinking Creek is located in Craig County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sinking Creek
    • Talking Leaves
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Talking Leaves is located in Roanoke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Talking Leaves
    • University Terrace
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • University Terrace is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Terrace
    • Valley Mill
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Valley Mill is located in Craig County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Mill
    • Vermont Heights
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Vermont Heights is located in Roanoke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vermont Heights

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

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

  • Christiansburg, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from McDonalds Mill to Christiansburg, with an average speed<3> 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 156 miles [251.1 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 207 miles [333.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,104 miles [9,823.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,810 miles [10,959.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,687 miles [7,543 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 McDonalds Mill 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- McDonalds Mill) 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 McDonalds Mill 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 McDonalds Mill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3001, Longitude: -80.2756       In this case, the coordinates for McDonalds Mill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.869 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.453 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.63 degrees.