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 Saint Elmo:
38.831224, -77.055811
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.
We found sixteen communities that share the name Saint Elmo.
Within Virginia, the name Saint Elmo is unique.
Beyond Virginia, we know of another sixteen communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these sixteen communities, fifteen are located in the United States and two are in Canada.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Alabama
Mobile County
This Saint Elmo is located in Mobile County and lies 856 miles [1,377.6 km]<1> to the southwest.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mobile County community of Saint Elmo.
California
San Bernardino County
This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Saint Elmo [San Bernardino County].
Colorado
Chaffee County
This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Saint Elmo [Chaffee County].
Illinois
Fayette County
This Saint Elmo is located in Fayette County and lies 633 miles [1,018.7 km]<1> to the west.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Saint Elmo.
Kentucky
Christian County
This Saint Elmo is located in Christian County and lies 582 miles [936.6 km]<1> to the west.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Christian County community of Saint Elmo.
Louisiana
Ascension Parish
This Saint Elmo is located in Ascension Parish and lies 992 miles [1,596.5 km]<1> to the west southwest.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ascension Parish community of Saint Elmo.
Saint James Parish
This Saint Elmo is located in Saint James Parish and lies 986 miles [1,586.8 km] to the west southwest.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint James Parish community of Saint Elmo.
Michigan
Midland County
This Saint Elmo is located in Midland County and lies 505 miles [812.7 km]<1> to the northwest.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Midland County community of Saint Elmo.
Mississippi
Claiborne County
This Saint Elmo is located in Claiborne County and lies 905 miles [1,456.5 km]<1> to the west southwest.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Claiborne County community of Saint Elmo.
Nevada
Nye County
This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nevada community of Saint Elmo [Nye County].
New York
Ulster County
This Saint Elmo is located in Ulster County and lies 244 miles [392.7 km]<1> to the northeast.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ulster County community of Saint Elmo.
Ontario
This Saint Elmo lies 443 miles [712.9 km]<1> to the north northwest.
Tennessee
Hamilton County
This Saint Elmo is located in Hamilton County and lies 527 miles [848.1 km]<1> to the west southwest.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Saint Elmo.
Shelby County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Saint Elmo [Shelby County].
Texas
Freestone County
This Saint Elmo is located in Freestone County and lies 1,174 miles [1,889.4 km]<1> to the west southwest.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Freestone County community of Saint Elmo.
Travis County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Saint Elmo [Travis County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Saint Elmo ...
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.
Brad Lee (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brad Lee have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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 Saint Elmo to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Saint Elmo and extending to:
Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 91 miles [146.5 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Saint Elmo to Richmond, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is just to the north northeast (NNE).
The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,901 miles [9,496.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,606 miles [10,631.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,483 miles [7,214.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Saint Elmo) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Saint Elmo. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8312, Longitude: -77.0558 In this case, the coordinates for Saint Elmo have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Saint Elmo, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>
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 Saint Elmo 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 . 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.
<4>
The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<5>
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.
<6>
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 Saint Elmo to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.905 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.446 degrees.
<9>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.748 degrees.