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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Robertsons, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Robertsons 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 Robertsons:
    • 37.289308, -79.606144
    • 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 Robertsons
  • 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 Bedford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bedford County
    • Since Robertsons is near Bedford City and also Franklin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bedford City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin 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 Robertsons

Curious and Interesting Names Near Robertsons ...

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.

  • Big Otter Mill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Big Otter Mill is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Otter Mill
  • Centerville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Centerville is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
  • Chestnut Fork
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Chestnut Fork is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Fork
  • Coonsville ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Coonsville is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coonsville
  • Diamond Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Diamond Hill is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond Hill
  • Five Forks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Five Forks is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Forks
  • Flint Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Flint Hill is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint Hill
  • Goodview
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Joppa Mill
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Joppa Mill is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joppa Mill
  • Otter Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Otter Hill is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otter Hill
  • Peaksville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Peaksville is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peaksville
  • Rocky Ford
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Rocky Ford is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ford
  • Shady Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Shady Grove is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
  • Union
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Union is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union

How Far From Robertsons to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Robertsons to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<2> community of Robertsons once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Robertsons and extending to:

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 120 miles [193.1 km]<3> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Robertsons to Richmond, with an average speed<4>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 178 miles [286.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,076 miles [9,778.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,780 miles [10,911.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,658 miles [7,496.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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>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 Robertsons, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Robertsons) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Robertsons 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 Robertsons. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.2893, Longitude: -79.6061       In this case, the coordinates for Robertsons have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.474 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.001 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.358 degrees.