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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Motley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Motley and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Motley:
    • 37.069587, -79.341136
    • 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 Motley
  • 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 Pittsylvania County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pittsylvania County
    • Since Motley is near Campbell County and also Bedford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Campbell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bedford 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 Motley

Communities Also Named Motley ...

We found eight communities that are also named Motley.

Within Virginia, the name Motley is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Clay County
      • This Motley is located in Clay County and lies 449 miles [722.6 km]<1> to the southwest of the Motley that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Motley.
      • Tallapoosa 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 Alabama community of Motley [Tallapoosa County].
    • Kentucky
      • Pike County
      • This Motley is located in Pike County and lies 160 miles [257.5 km]<1> to the west of the Motley that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pike County community of Motley.
      • Warren County
      • This Motley is located in Warren County and lies 383 miles [616.4 km] to the west of the Motley that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Warren County community of Motley.
    • Michigan
      • Houghton 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 Michigan community of Motley [Houghton County].
    • Minnesota
      • Morrison County
      • This Motley is located in Morrison County and lies 1,012 miles [1,628.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Motley that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morrison County community of Motley.
    • Missouri
      • Jasper County
      • This Motley is located in Jasper County and lies 817 miles [1,314.8 km]<1> to the west of the Motley that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jasper County community of Motley.
    • Texas
      • Rusk 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 Texas community of Motley [Rusk County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Motley ...

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.

  • Brights
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Brights is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brights
  • Farmers
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Farmers is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmers
  • Glenland
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Glenland is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenland
  • Grit
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Grit is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grit
  • Hill Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Hill Grove is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill Grove
  • Hurt
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hurt is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hurt
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,211 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hurt <3>
  • Leesville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Leesville is located in Campbell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leesville
  • Level Run
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Level Run is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Level Run
  • Lynch Station
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Lynch Station is located in Campbell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynch Station
  • Natal
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Natal is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Natal
  • Pickerel
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Pickerel is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickerel
  • Pine Ridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Pine Ridge is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Ridge

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

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

  • Chatham, which is the Seat of Pittsylvania County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Motley to Chatham, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 109 miles [175.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,074 miles [9,775.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,777 miles [10,906.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,655 miles [7,491.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Motley) 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 Motley 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Motley 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 Motley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.0696, Longitude: -79.3411       In this case, the coordinates for Motley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.325 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.797 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.324 degrees.