RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Roanoke County >> Mount Vernon Forest >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mount Vernon Forest, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mount Vernon Forest 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 Mount Vernon Forest:
    • 37.212637, -80.022816
    • 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 Mount Vernon Forest
  • 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 Roanoke County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Roanoke County
    • Since Mount Vernon Forest is near Roanoke City and also Salem City, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Roanoke City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Salem City
  • 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 Mount Vernon Forest

Communities Also Named Mount Vernon Forest ...

We found one communities that are also named Mount Vernon Forest.

There is one other community in Virginia that is also named Mount Vernon Forest.

Beyond Virginia.

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Fairfax 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 Virginia community of Mount Vernon Forest [Fairfax County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mount Vernon Forest ...

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.

  • Castle Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Castle Hill is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Hill
  • Castle Rock
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Castle Rock is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Rock
  • Cave Spring
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Cave Spring is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cave Spring
  • Crescent Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Crescent Heights is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Heights
  • Crest Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Crest Hill is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crest Hill
  • Green Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Valley is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
  • Greenland Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Greenland Hills is located in Roanoke City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenland Hills
  • Hidden Valley Court
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Hidden Valley Court is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidden Valley Court
  • Highfields
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Highfields is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highfields
  • Holly Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Holly Ridge is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Ridge
  • Homeplace
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Homeplace is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homeplace
  • Homewood
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Homewood is located in Roanoke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homewood
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...
    • Meadowlark
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Meadowlark is located in Roanoke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowlark
    • Rosecrest
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Rosecrest is located in Roanoke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosecrest
    • Scenic Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Scenic Hills is located in Roanoke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scenic Hills
    • Spring Valley
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Spring Valley is located in Roanoke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
    • Springlawn
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Springlawn is located in Roanoke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springlawn
    • Sugar Loaf Farms
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Sugar Loaf Farms is located in Roanoke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Loaf Farms
    • Sugar Loaf Highlands
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Sugar Loaf Highlands is located in Roanoke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Loaf Highlands
    • Sugar Loaf Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Sugar Loaf Hills is located in Roanoke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Loaf Hills
    • Sunset Hills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Sunset Hills is located in Roanoke City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Hills
    • Woods Crossing
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Woods Crossing is located in Roanoke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods Crossing

How Far From Mount Vernon Forest 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 Mount Vernon Forest to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Mount Vernon Forest and extending to:

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 143 miles [230.1 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Mount Vernon Forest to Richmond, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 199 miles [320.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,097 miles [9,812.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,802 miles [10,946.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,679 miles [7,530.1 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 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 Mount Vernon Forest 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 '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- Mount Vernon Forest) 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 Mount Vernon Forest 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 Mount Vernon Forest. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.2126, Longitude: -80.0228       In this case, the coordinates for Mount Vernon Forest have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.722 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.272 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.555 degrees.