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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Peaks, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Peaks 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 Peaks:
    • 37.723199, -77.388870
    • 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 Peaks
  • 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 Hanover County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hanover County
    • Since Peaks is near Caroline County and also Henrico County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Caroline County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henrico 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 Peaks

Communities Also Named Peaks ...

We found two communities that are also named Peaks.

There is one other community in Virginia that is also named Peaks.

Beyond Virginia, there is another community also named Peaks in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Bedford 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 Peaks [Bedford County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Pennsylvania
      • Elk 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 Pennsylvania community of Peaks [Elk County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Peaks ...

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.

  • Ashcake
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Ashcake is located in Hanover County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashcake
  • Buckeye
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Buckeye is located in Hanover County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckeye
  • Crosses Corner
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Crosses Corner is located in Hanover County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crosses Corner
  • French Hay
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • French Hay is located in Hanover County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for French Hay
  • Georgetown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Georgetown is located in Hanover County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
  • Greenway
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Greenway is located in Hanover County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenway
  • Heaths Store
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Heaths Store is located in Hanover County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heaths Store
  • Hilly Farms
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Hilly Farms is located in Hanover County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilly Farms
  • Kings Charter
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Kings Charter is located in Hanover County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Charter
  • Kingswood Court
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Kingswood Court is located in Hanover County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingswood Court
  • Lewistown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Lewistown is located in Hanover County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewistown
  • Lincoln Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Lincoln Park is located in Hanover County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Park
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Littlepages Ferry
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Littlepages Ferry is located in Caroline County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littlepages Ferry
    • Mimosa Hills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Mimosa Hills is located in Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mimosa Hills
    • Patrick Henry Heights
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Pebblebrook
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Pebblebrook is located in Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pebblebrook
    • Poindexters
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Poindexters is located in Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poindexters
    • Twin Oaks
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Twin Oaks is located in Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Oaks

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

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

  • Hanover, which is the Seat of Hanover County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could walk a straight line from Peaks to Richmond, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 83 miles [133.6 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,962 miles [9,594.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,663 miles [10,723.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,542 miles [7,309.6 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 Peaks 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Peaks) 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 Peaks 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 Peaks. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.7232, Longitude: -77.3889       In this case, the coordinates for Peaks have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.162 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.569 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.301 degrees.