Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Owens, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Owens and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Owens
- 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 Owens:
- 37.618464, -79.821712
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Owens
- 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 Botetourt County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Botetourt County
- Since Owens is near Alleghany County and also Craig County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Alleghany County
- eBird sighting report for Craig 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Owens ...
We found 24 communities that share the name Owens.
There are two communities within Virginia that are also named Owens.
Beyond Virginia, we know of another 22 communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Virginia ...
- King George County
- Sussex County
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Etowah County
- This Owens is located in Etowah County and lies 414 miles [666.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Owens that is located in Botetourt County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Etowah County community of Owens.
- Pickens County
- This Owens is located in Pickens County and lies 550 miles [885.1 km] to the west southwest of the Owens that is located in Botetourt County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pickens County community of Owens.
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- South Carolina
- Georgetown County
- This Owens is located in Georgetown County and lies 272 miles [437.7 km]<1> to the south of the Owens that is located in Botetourt County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Georgetown County community of Owens.
- Horry County
- This Owens is located in Horry County and lies 276 miles [444.2 km] to the south of the Owens that is located in Botetourt County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Horry County community of Owens.
- Laurens County
- This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Owens [Laurens County].
- Spartanburg County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Owens [Spartanburg County].
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Brown County
- This Owens is located in Brown County and lies 1,152 miles [1,854 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Owens that is located in Botetourt County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Brown County community of Owens.
- Crosby County
- This Owens is located in Crosby County and lies 1,238 miles [1,992.4 km] to the west of the Owens that is located in Botetourt County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Crosby County community of Owens.
- West Virginia
- Alabama
Curious and Interesting Names Near Owens ...
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.
- Daggers Springs
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Daggers Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daggers Springs
- Daggers Springs is located in Botetourt County
- Eagle Rock
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eagle Rock have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Rock
- Eagle Rock is located in Botetourt County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eagle Rock <5>
- Flatwoods
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Gala
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gala
- Gala is located in Botetourt County
- Kyles Mills
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kyles Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kyles Mills
- Kyles Mills is located in Botetourt County
- Salisbury
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salisbury
- Salisbury is located in Botetourt County
- Salt Petre Cave
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Salt Petre Cave. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<6>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salt Petre Cave
- Salt Petre Cave is located in Botetourt County
- Salt Petre Cave has also been known as:
- Salt Peter Cave
- Saltpetre
- Springwood
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springwood
- Springwood is located in Botetourt County
How Far From Owens 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 Owens to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Owens and extending to:
- Fincastle, which is the Seat of Botetourt County, lies just to the South Southwest.
- Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 130 miles [209.2 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Owens to Richmond, with an average speed<7>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 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 174 miles [280 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,070 miles [9,768.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- 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).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,654 miles [7,489.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Owens. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Botetourt County: www.co.botetourt.va.us/
The official website for State of Virginia: https://www.virginia.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Owens) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Owens. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.6185, Longitude: -79.8217 In this case, the coordinates for Owens have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Owens, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 Owens 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. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <7> | 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. |
| <8> | 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 Owens to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.593 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.185 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.337 degrees. |