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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sago, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sago 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 Sago:
    • 36.888752, -79.641141
    • 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 Sago
  • 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 Franklin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin County
    • Since Sago is near Pittsylvania County and also Henry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pittsylvania 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 Sago

Communities Also Named Sago ...

We found six communities that are also named Sago.

There is one other community in Virginia that is also named Sago.

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

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Pittsylvania County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Sago [Pittsylvania County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Mississippi
      • Sharkey County
      • This Sago is located in Sharkey County and lies 690 miles [1,110.4 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Sago that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sharkey County community of Sago.
    • North Carolina
      • Mecklenburg County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Sago [Mecklenburg County].
    • Ohio
      • Muskingum County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Sago [Muskingum County].
    • Oregon
      • Union County
      • This Sago is located in Union County and lies 2,049 miles [3,297.5 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Sago that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Union County community of Sago.
    • West Virginia
      • Upshur County
      • This Sago is located in Upshur County and lies 143 miles [230.1 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Sago that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Upshur County community of Sago.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sago ...

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.

  • Ajax
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Ajax is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ajax
  • Arrowhead
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Arrowhead is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arrowhead
  • Climax
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Climax is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Climax
  • Grady
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Grady is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grady
  • Green Pond
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Green Pond is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Pond
  • Hollys Mill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Hollys Mill is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollys Mill
  • Museville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Museville is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Museville
  • Peckerwood Level
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Peckerwood Level is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peckerwood Level
  • Progress
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Progress is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Progress
  • Turkey Fork
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Turkey Fork is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Fork
  • Worlds
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Worlds is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Worlds

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

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

  • Rocky Mount, which is the Seat of Franklin County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<2> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Sago to Rocky Mount, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 129 miles [207.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 198 miles [318.7 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 6,095 miles [9,809 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,798 miles [10,940.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,676 miles [7,525.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Sago 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.
<2>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 from Point A (ie- Sago) 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 Sago 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 Sago. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8888, Longitude: -79.6411       In this case, the coordinates for Sago have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.505 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.976 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.506 degrees.