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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Merrifield, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Merrifield 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 Merrifield:
    • 36.879315, -76.382445
    • 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 Merrifield
  • 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 Merrifield

Communities Also Named Merrifield ...

We found six communities that are also named Merrifield.

There is one other community in Virginia that is also named Merrifield.

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

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Fairfax County
      • This Merrifield is located in Fairfax County and lies 145 miles [233.4 km]<1> to the north northwest.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfax County community of Merrifield.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Saint Johns 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 Florida community of Merrifield [Saint Johns County].
    • Kentucky
      • Jefferson County
      • This Merrifield is located in Jefferson County and lies 515 miles [828.8 km]<1> to the west northwest.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Merrifield.
    • Minnesota
      • Crow Wing County
      • This Merrifield is located in Crow Wing County and lies 1,127 miles [1,813.7 km]<1> to the northwest.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Crow Wing County community of Merrifield.
    • New York
      • Cayuga County
      • This Merrifield is located in Cayuga County and lies 407 miles [655 km]<1> to the north.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cayuga County community of Merrifield.
    • North Dakota
      • Grand Forks County
      • This Merrifield is located in Grand Forks County and lies 1,293 miles [2,080.9 km]<1> to the northwest.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grand Forks County community of Merrifield.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Merrifield ...

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.

  • Churchland
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Churchland is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Churchland
  • Edgefield
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Edgefield is located in Portsmouth City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgefield
  • Green Acres
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Green Acres is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Greenfield Farms
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Greenfield Farms is located in Portsmouth City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield Farms
  • Huntersville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Huntersville is located in Suffolk City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntersville
  • Kingman
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Kingman is located in Portsmouth City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingman
  • Long Point
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Long Point is located in Portsmouth City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Point
  • Peachtree
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Peachtree is located in Portsmouth City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peachtree
  • River Shore
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • River Shore is located in Portsmouth City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Shore
  • Siesta Gardens
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Siesta Gardens is located in Portsmouth City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Siesta Gardens
  • Silverwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Silverwood is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silverwood
  • Twin Pines
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Twin Pines is located in Portsmouth City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Pines
  • Windy Pines
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Windy Pines is located in Portsmouth City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windy Pines

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 73 miles [117.5 km]<1> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Merrifield 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 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 143 miles [230.1 km] to the north northwest (NNW). 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 5,955 miles [9,583.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,649 miles [10,700.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,530 miles [7,290.3 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Merrifield) 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 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 Merrifield 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 . 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 Merrifield 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 Merrifield. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8793, Longitude: -76.3824       In this case, the coordinates for Merrifield have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.627 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.831 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.211 degrees.