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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Raphine, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Raphine 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 Raphine:
- 37.937355, -79.232810
- 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 Raphine
- 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 Rockbridge County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Rockbridge County
- Since Raphine is near Augusta County and also Nelson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Augusta County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Nelson 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 Raphine
Curious and Interesting Names Near Raphine ...
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.
- Cold Spring
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Cold Spring is located in Augusta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Spring
- Greenville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Irish Creek
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Irish Creek is located in Rockbridge County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irish Creek
- Jonestown
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Jonestown is located in Rockbridge County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonestown
- McNutt ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- McNutt is located in Augusta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McNutt
- Spottswood
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Spottswood is located in Augusta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spottswood
- Stony Run
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Stony Run is located in Augusta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Run
- Vesuvius
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Zack
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Zack is located in Rockbridge County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zack
How Far From Raphine 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 Raphine to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Raphine and extending to:
- Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 101 miles [162.5 km]<2> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Raphine to Richmond, with an average speed<3>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 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 136 miles [218.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,032 miles [9,707.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,738 miles [10,843.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,615 miles [7,427.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Raphine) 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 Raphine 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 Raphine. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9374, Longitude: -79.2328 In this case, the coordinates for Raphine have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.234 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.823 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.984 degrees. |
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