RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Grayson County >> Mouth-of-Wilson >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mouth-of-Wilson, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mouth-of-Wilson 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 Mouth-of-Wilson:
    • 36.589284, -81.33667
    • 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 Mouth-of-Wilson
  • 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 Grayson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grayson County
    • Since Mouth-of-Wilson is near Ashe County and also Alleghany County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ashe County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alleghany 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 Mouth-of-Wilson

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mouth-of-Wilson ...

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.

How Far From Mouth-of-Wilson 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 Mouth-of-Wilson to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Mouth-of-Wilson and extending to:

  • Independence, which is the Seat of Grayson County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Mouth-of-Wilson to Independence, 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 224 miles [360.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 283 miles [455.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,180 miles [9,945.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,886 miles [11,081.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,763 miles [7,665.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Mouth-of-Wilson) 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 Mouth-of-Wilson 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 Mouth-of-Wilson. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.5893, Longitude: -81.3367    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.507 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.078 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.291 degrees.