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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Raspberry, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Raspberry 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 Raspberry:
    • 38.455900, -77.362000
    • 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 Raspberry
  • 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 Stafford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Stafford County
    • Since Raspberry is near Prince William County and also Charles County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince William County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Charles 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 Raspberry

Communities Also Named Raspberry ...

We found four communities that are also named Raspberry.

Within Virginia, the name Raspberry is unique.

Beyond Virginia, we know of four communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, three are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Pope County
      • This Raspberry is located in Pope County and lies 877 miles [1,411.4 km]<1> to the west of the Raspberry that is located in Stafford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pope County community of Raspberry.
    • British Columbia
      • This Raspberry lies 2,110 miles [3,395.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Raspberry that is located in Stafford County.
    • Colorado
      • Chaffee County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Raspberry [Chaffee County].
    • Kentucky
      • Rockcastle County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Raspberry [Rockcastle County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Raspberry ...

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.

  • Aqua Villa
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Aqua Villa is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aqua Villa
  • Bells Run
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Bells Run is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bells Run
  • Bowers
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Bowers is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowers
  • Coal Landing
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Coal Landing is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal Landing
  • Greenridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Greenridge is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenridge
  • Harris
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Harris is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris
  • Midway Island
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Midway Island is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midway Island
  • Quail Run
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Quail Run is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Run
  • Rivendell
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Rivendell is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rivendell
  • Sams Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Sams Ridge is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sams Ridge
  • Shadow Woods
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Shadow Woods is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadow Woods
  • Stone River
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Stone River is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone River
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Summerwood
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Summerwood is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerwood
    • Sunnyside
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Sunnyside is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
    • Sunshine Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Sunshine Hills is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunshine Hills
    • Sunshine View
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Sunshine View is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunshine View
    • Twin Oaks
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Twin Oaks is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Oaks
    • Vintage Oaks
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Vintage Oaks is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vintage Oaks
    • Widewater
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Widewater is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Widewater

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

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

  • Stafford, which is the Seat of Stafford County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 63 miles [101.4 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could walk a straight line from Raspberry to Richmond, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 35 miles [56.3 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take most of two days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,930 miles [9,543.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,634 miles [10,676.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,511 miles [7,259.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Raspberry) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Raspberry 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.
<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 Raspberry 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 Raspberry. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.4559, Longitude: -77.3620       In this case, the coordinates for Raspberry have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.107 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.619 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.018 degrees.