RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Prince William County >> Oaks of Shenandoah >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Oaks of Shenandoah, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oaks of Shenandoah 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 Oaks of Shenandoah:
    • 38.653174, -77.461653
    • 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 Oaks of Shenandoah
  • 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 Prince William County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince William County
    • Since Oaks of Shenandoah is near Manassas City and also Stafford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Manassas City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Stafford 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 Oaks of Shenandoah

Curious and Interesting Names Near Oaks of Shenandoah ...

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.

  • Bloom Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Bloom Hill is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloom Hill
  • Camelot
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Camelot is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camelot
  • Combat Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Combat Village is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Combat Village
  • Foxridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Foxridge is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxridge
  • Heritage Woods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Heritage Woods is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Woods
  • Independent Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Independent Hill is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independent Hill
  • Locust Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Locust Hill is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Hill
  • Meadowbrook
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Meadowbrook is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
  • Orangedale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Orangedale is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orangedale
  • Princedale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Princedale is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Princedale
  • Raintree
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Raintree is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raintree
  • Ridgedale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Ridgedale is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgedale
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Silverdale
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Silverdale is located in Prince William County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silverdale
    • Terrapin Forest
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Terrapin Forest is located in Prince William County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terrapin Forest
    • Windy Hill
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Windy Hill is located in Prince William County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windy Hill
    • Woodlawn Meadows
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Woodlawn Meadows is located in Prince William County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn Meadows

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Oaks of Shenandoah and extending to:

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 76 miles [122.3 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Oaks of Shenandoah to Richmond, with an average speed<2>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 5 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 28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast (NE). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,926 miles [9,537 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,631 miles [10,671.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,508 miles [7,254.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Oaks of Shenandoah) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Oaks of Shenandoah 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 Oaks of Shenandoah. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.6532, Longitude: -77.4617       In this case, the coordinates for Oaks of Shenandoah have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.155 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.703 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.985 degrees.