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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McKendree, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McKendree 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 McKendree:
    • 36.847916, -78.995569
    • 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 McKendree
  • 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 McKendree is near Pittsylvania County and also Fluvanna County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pittsylvania 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 McKendree

Communities Also Named McKendree ...

We found five communities that are also named McKendree.

Within Virginia, the name McKendree is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Anne Arundel County
      • This McKendree is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 186 miles [299.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the McKendree that is located in Halifax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of McKendree.
      • Prince George's County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Maryland community of McKendree [Prince George's County].
    • Ohio
      • Madison County
      • This McKendree is located in Madison County and lies 307 miles [494.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the McKendree that is located in Halifax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of McKendree.
    • South Carolina
      • Edgefield County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of McKendree [Edgefield County].
    • West Virginia
      • Fayette County
      • This McKendree is located in Fayette County and lies 134 miles [215.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the McKendree that is located in Halifax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of McKendree.

Curious and Interesting Names Near McKendree ...

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.

  • Clays Mill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Clays Mill is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clays Mill
  • Crystal Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Crystal Hill is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Hill
  • Elkhorn
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Elkhorn is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhorn
  • Hickory Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Hickory Grove is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Grove
  • High Rock
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • High Rock is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Rock
  • Liberty
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Liberty is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
  • Meadville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Meadville is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadville
  • Millstone
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Millstone is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millstone
  • Mountain Road
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Mountain Road is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Road
  • Plato
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Plato is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plato
  • Republican Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Republican Grove is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Republican Grove
  • Sign Rock
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Sign Rock is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sign Rock
  • Youngers Store
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Youngers Store is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Youngers Store

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

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

  • Halifax, which is the Seat of Halifax County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 98 miles [157.7 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from McKendree 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 three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 177 miles [284.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,069 miles [9,767.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,770 miles [10,895.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,649 miles [7,481.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- McKendree) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 McKendree 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.
<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 McKendree 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 McKendree. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8479, Longitude: -78.9956       In this case, the coordinates for McKendree have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.13 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.541 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.259 degrees.