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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Millstone, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Millstone 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 Millstone:
    • 36.876805, -79.015292
    • 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 Millstone
  • 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 Millstone is near Pittsylvania County and also Campbell 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 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 Millstone

Communities Also Named Millstone ...

We found nine communities that are also named Millstone.

Within Virginia, the name Millstone is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Connecticut
      • New London County
      • This Millstone is located in New London County and lies 477 miles [767.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Millstone that is located in Halifax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New London County community of Millstone.
    • Kentucky
      • Letcher County
      • This Millstone is located in Letcher County and lies 206 miles [331.5 km]<1> to the west of the Millstone that is located in Halifax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Letcher County community of Millstone.
    • Maryland
      • Washington 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 Millstone [Washington County].
    • New Jersey
      • Middlesex 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 New Jersey community of Millstone [Middlesex County].
      • Somerset County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New Jersey community of Millstone [Somerset County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Elk County
      • This Millstone is located in Elk County and lies 309 miles [497.3 km]<1> to the north of the Millstone that is located in Halifax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Elk County community of Millstone.
    • Tennessee
      • Cumberland County
      • This Millstone is located in Cumberland County and lies 327 miles [526.3 km]<1> to the west of the Millstone that is located in Halifax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cumberland County community of Millstone.
    • West Virginia
      • Calhoun County
      • This Millstone is located in Calhoun County and lies 174 miles [280 km]<1> to the northwest of the Millstone that is located in Halifax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Calhoun County community of Millstone.
      • Mingo 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 West Virginia community of Millstone [Mingo County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Millstone ...

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.

  • Acorn
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Acorn is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acorn
  • Crystal Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Crystal Hill is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Hill
  • Elkhorn
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Elkhorn is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhorn
  • Hickory Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hickory Grove is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Grove
  • Liberty
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Liberty is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
  • Meadville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Meadville is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadville
  • Plato
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Plato is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plato
  • Republican Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 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 southwest)
    • Sign Rock is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sign Rock
  • Youngers Store
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Youngers Store is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Youngers Store

How Far From Millstone to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Millstone to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Halifax, which is the Seat of Halifax County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Millstone to Halifax, 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 98 miles [157.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 176 miles [283.2 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take about 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 4,648 miles [7,480.2 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Millstone) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Millstone 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 Millstone 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 Millstone. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8768, Longitude: -79.0153       In this case, the coordinates for Millstone have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.14 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.558 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.257 degrees.