RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Clarke County >> River Park >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in River Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to River Park 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 River Park:
    • 39.080940, -77.951663
    • 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 River Park
  • 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 Clarke County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clarke County
    • Since River Park is near Loudoun County and also Fauquier County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Loudoun County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fauquier 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 River Park

Communities Also Named River Park ...

We found five communities that are also named River Park.

There is one other community in Virginia that is also named River Park.

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

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Portsmouth City
      • This River Park is located in Portsmouth City and lies 177 miles [284.9 km]<1> to the south southeast of the River Park that is located in Clarke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Portsmouth City community of River Park.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Baldwin County
      • This River Park is located in Baldwin County and lies 816 miles [1,313.2 km]<1> to the southwest of the River Park that is located in Clarke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baldwin County community of River Park.
    • Florida
      • Saint Lucie County
      • This River Park is located in Saint Lucie County and lies 824 miles [1,326.1 km]<1> to the south of the River Park that is located in Clarke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Lucie County community of River Park.
    • Illinois
      • Cook 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 Illinois community of River Park [Cook County].
    • Indiana
      • Saint Joseph 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 Indiana community of River Park [Saint Joseph County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near River Park ...

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.

  • Berrys
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Berrys is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berrys
  • Care Free Acres
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Care Free Acres is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Care Free Acres
  • Castlemans Ferry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Castlemans Ferry is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castlemans Ferry
  • Fisher Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Fisher Hill is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisher Hill
  • Frogtown
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Frogtown is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frogtown
  • Lockes Landing
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Lockes Landing is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lockes Landing
  • Longwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Longwood is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longwood
  • Mountain Lake
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Mountain Lake is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Lake
  • Paris Heights
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Paris Heights is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paris Heights
  • Spout Run
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Spout Run is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spout Run
  • Top Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Top Hill is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Top Hill
  • Treadwell
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Treadwell is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Treadwell
  • Willow Lake
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Willow Lake is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Lake

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

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

  • Berryville, which is the Seat of Clarke County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 109 miles [175.4 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from River Park 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 50 miles [80.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two 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 5,928 miles [9,540.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,636 miles [10,679.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,512 miles [7,261.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- River Park) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 River Park 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 River Park 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 River Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.0809, Longitude: -77.9517       In this case, the coordinates for River Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.421 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.071 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.031 degrees.