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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rondo, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rondo 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 Rondo:
    • 36.828473, -79.531695
    • 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 Rondo
  • 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 Pittsylvania County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pittsylvania County
    • Since Rondo is near Franklin County and also Henry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henry 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 Rondo

Communities Also Named Rondo ...

We found five communities that are also named Rondo.

Within Virginia, the name Rondo is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Lee County
      • This Rondo is located in Lee County and lies 649 miles [1,044.5 km]<1> to the west of the Rondo that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lee County community of Rondo.
      • Miller County
      • This Rondo is located in Miller County and lies 847 miles [1,363.1 km] to the west of the Rondo that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Miller County community of Rondo.
    • Michigan
      • Cheboygan County
      • This Rondo is located in Cheboygan County and lies 642 miles [1,033.2 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Rondo that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cheboygan County community of Rondo.
      • Menominee 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 Michigan community of Rondo [Menominee County].
    • Missouri
      • Polk County
      • This Rondo is located in Polk County and lies 766 miles [1,232.8 km]<1> to the west of the Rondo that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Polk County community of Rondo.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rondo ...

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.

  • Banister
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Banister is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Banister
  • Climax
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Climax is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Climax
  • Flint Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Flint Hill is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint Hill
  • Grady
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Grady is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grady
  • Green Pond
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Green Pond is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Pond
  • Hollys Mill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Hollys Mill is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollys Mill
  • Jones Mill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jones Mill is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones Mill
  • Museville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Museville is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Museville
  • Redeye
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Redeye is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redeye
  • Turkey Fork
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Turkey Fork is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Fork
  • Worlds
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Worlds is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Worlds

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

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

  • Chatham, which is the Seat of Pittsylvania County, lies just to the East.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 125 miles [201.2 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Rondo 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 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 197 miles [317 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,093 miles [9,805.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,795 miles [10,935.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,673 miles [7,520.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Rondo) 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 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 Rondo 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 Rondo 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 Rondo. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8285, Longitude: -79.5317       In this case, the coordinates for Rondo have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.442 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.896 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.481 degrees.