RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Frederick County >> Plainfield Heights >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Plainfield Heights, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Plainfield Heights 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 Plainfield Heights:
    • 39.135939, -78.192779
    • 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 Plainfield Heights
  • 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 Frederick County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Frederick County
    • Since Plainfield Heights is near Winchester City and also Clarke County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Winchester City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clarke 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 Plainfield Heights

Communities Also Named Plainfield Heights ...

We found one communities that are also named Plainfield Heights.

Within Virginia, the name Plainfield Heights is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Michigan
      • Kent 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 Michigan community of Plainfield Heights [Kent County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Plainfield Heights ...

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.

  • Bufflick Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Bufflick Heights is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bufflick Heights
  • Chambersville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Chambersville is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chambersville
  • College Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • College Park is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Park
  • Green Acres
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Acres is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Heritage Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Heritage Hills is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Hills
  • Hill Crest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Hill Crest is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill Crest
  • Lost Corner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Lost Corner is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost Corner
  • Rolling Fields
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Rolling Fields is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Fields
  • Round Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Round Hill is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Hill
  • Spring Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Spring Valley is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
  • Stonewall Orchard
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Stonewall Orchard is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonewall Orchard
  • Sunnyside
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Sunnyside is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
  • Woodchuck Heights
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Woodchuck Heights is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodchuck Heights

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 117 miles [188.3 km]<2> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Plainfield Heights to Richmond, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 64 miles [103 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,936 miles [9,553.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,645 miles [10,694.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,521 miles [7,275.8 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 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 Plainfield Heights 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Plainfield Heights) 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 Plainfield Heights 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 Plainfield Heights. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.1359, Longitude: -78.1928       In this case, the coordinates for Plainfield Heights have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.561 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.239 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.114 degrees.