RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Page County >> Morning Star >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Morning Star, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Morning Star 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 Morning Star:
    • 38.646231, -78.365838
    • 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 Morning Star
  • 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 Page County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Page County
    • Since Morning Star is near Rappahannock County and also Madison County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rappahannock County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison 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 Morning Star

Communities Also Named Morning Star ...

We found nine communities that are also named Morning Star.

Within Virginia, the name Morning Star is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Garland 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 Arkansas community of Morning Star [Garland County].
      • Greene County
      • This Morning Star is located in Greene County and lies 684 miles [1,100.8 km]<2> to the west of the Morning Star that is located in Page County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greene County community of Morning Star.
      • Hot Spring County
      • This Morning Star is located in Hot Spring County and lies 858 miles [1,380.8 km] to the west southwest of the Morning Star that is located in Page County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hot Spring County community of Morning Star.
      • Phillips County
      • This Morning Star is located in Phillips County and lies 753 miles [1,211.8 km] to the west southwest of the Morning Star that is located in Page County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Phillips County community of Morning Star.
      • Searcy County
      • This Morning Star is located in Searcy County and lies 802 miles [1,290.7 km] to the west of the Morning Star that is located in Page County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Searcy County community of Morning Star.
    • Mississippi
      • Hinds County
      • This Morning Star is located in Hinds County and lies 816 miles [1,313.2 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Morning Star that is located in Page County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hinds County community of Morning Star.
    • North Carolina
      • Haywood County
      • This Morning Star is located in Haywood County and lies 326 miles [524.6 km]<2> to the southwest of the Morning Star that is located in Page County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Haywood County community of Morning Star.
    • Ohio
      • Meigs County
      • This Morning Star is located in Meigs County and lies 193 miles [310.6 km]<2> to the west of the Morning Star that is located in Page County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Meigs County community of Morning Star.
    • West Virginia
      • Roane County
      • This Morning Star is located in Roane County and lies 166 miles [267.2 km]<2> to the west of the Morning Star that is located in Page County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roane County community of Morning Star.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Morning Star ...

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.

  • Big Spring
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Big Spring is located in Page County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Spring
  • Cavetown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cavetown is located in Page County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cavetown
  • Ida
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Ida is located in Page County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ida
  • Marksville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Marksville is located in Page County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marksville
  • Nethers
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Nethers is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nethers
  • Oldrag ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Oldrag is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oldrag
  • Panorama
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Panorama is located in Rappahannock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panorama
  • Skyland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Skyland is located in Page County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skyland
  • Spring View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Spring View is located in Page County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring View
  • Stony Man
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Stony Man is located in Page County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Man
  • Woodland Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Woodland Park is located in Page County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Park

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

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

  • Luray, which is the Seat of Page County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 91 miles [146.5 km]<2> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Morning Star 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 most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 73 miles [117.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,964 miles [9,598.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,672 miles [10,737.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,548 miles [7,319.3 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 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 Morning Star 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Morning Star) 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 Morning Star 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 Morning Star. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.6462, Longitude: -78.3658       In this case, the coordinates for Morning Star have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.69 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.311 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.368 degrees.