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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Porters, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Porters 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 Porters:
    • 38.193745, -77.791382
    • 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 Porters
  • 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 Spotsylvania County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Spotsylvania County
    • Since Porters is near Orange County and also Louisa County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orange County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Louisa 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 Porters

Communities Also Named Porters ...

We found thirteen communities that are also named Porters.

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

Beyond Virginia, we know of twelve communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Albemarle County
      • This Porters is located in Albemarle County and lies 50 miles [80.5 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Porters that is located in Spotsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Albemarle County community of Porters.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Hall County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Hall County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hall County community of Porters.
      • Wilkes County
      • This Porters is located in Wilkes County and lies 413 miles [664.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Porters that is located in Spotsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wilkes County community of Porters.
    • Indiana
      • Tippecanoe 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 Indiana community of Porters [Tippecanoe County].
    • Kentucky
      • Bourbon 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 Kentucky community of Porters [Bourbon County].
    • Maryland
      • Allegany 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 Maryland community of Porters [Allegany County].
      • Carroll 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 Maryland community of Porters [Carroll County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Allegheny 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 Pennsylvania community of Porters [Allegheny County].
      • Clearfield County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Porters [Clearfield County].
      • York County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Porters [York County].
    • Tennessee
      • Henry 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 Tennessee community of Porters [Henry County].
      • Maury County
      • This Porters is located in Maury County and lies 548 miles [881.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Porters that is located in Spotsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Maury County community of Porters.
    • Wisconsin
      • Rock County
      • This Porters is located in Rock County and lies 658 miles [1,058.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Porters that is located in Spotsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rock County community of Porters.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Porters ...

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.

  • Childs Cove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Childs Cove is located in Spotsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Childs Cove
  • Dan
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Dan is located in Spotsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dan
  • Gold Dale
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Gold Dale is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold Dale
  • Granite Springs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Granite Springs is located in Spotsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granite Springs
  • Jones
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jones is located in Spotsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones
  • Lanes Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Lanes Corner is located in Spotsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanes Corner
  • Margo
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Margo is located in Spotsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Margo
  • Mine Run
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Mine Run is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mine Run
  • Prince Dominion
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Prince Dominion is located in Spotsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prince Dominion
  • Shady Grove Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Shady Grove Corner is located in Spotsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove Corner
  • White Owl Landing
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • White Owl Landing is located in Spotsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Owl Landing

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Porters and extending to:

  • Spotsylvania, which is the Seat of Spotsylvania County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Porters to Spotsylvania, with an average speed<4> 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 49 miles [78.9 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 63 miles [101.4 km] to the northeast (NE). 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,959 miles [9,590.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • 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).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,541 miles [7,308 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 from Point A (ie- Porters) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Porters, 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 Porters 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>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.
<5>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 Porters 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 Porters. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.1937, Longitude: -77.7914       In this case, the coordinates for Porters have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.373 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.881 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.294 degrees.