RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Saint Helena >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Saint Helena, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Saint Helena 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 Saint Helena:
    • 36.827926, -76.288552
    • 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 Saint Helena
  • 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 Saint Helena

Communities Also Named Saint Helena ...

We found five communities that are also named Saint Helena.

Within Virginia, the name Saint Helena is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Napa County
      • This Saint Helena is located in Napa County and lies 2,500 miles [4,023.4 km]<1> to the west northwest.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Napa County community of Saint Helena.
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore County
      • This Saint Helena is located in Baltimore County and lies 168 miles [270.4 km]<1> to the north.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baltimore County community of Saint Helena.
    • Nebraska
      • Cedar County
      • This Saint Helena is located in Cedar County and lies 1,182 miles [1,902.2 km]<1> to the west northwest.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cedar County community of Saint Helena.
    • North Carolina
      • Pender County
      • This Saint Helena is located in Pender County and lies 183 miles [294.5 km]<1> to the south southwest.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pender County community of Saint Helena.
    • South Carolina
      • Beaufort 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 South Carolina community of Saint Helena [Beaufort County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Saint Helena ...

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.

  • Cloverdale
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Cloverdale is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
  • College Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • College Park is located in Virginia Beach City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Park
  • Edgewater
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Edgewater is located in Norfolk City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgewater
  • Edmonds Corner
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Edmonds Corner is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edmonds Corner
  • Elizabeth Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Elizabeth Park is located in Norfolk City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elizabeth Park
  • Elizabeth River Shores
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Elizabeth River Shores is located in Virginia Beach City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elizabeth River Shores
  • Foundation Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Foundation Park is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foundation Park
  • Fox Hall
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Fox Hall is located in Norfolk City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Hall
  • Fox Hall Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Fox Hall Park is located in Norfolk City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Hall Park
  • Geneva Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Geneva Park is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva Park
  • Geneva Shores
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Geneva Shores is located in Chesapeake City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva Shores
  • Greenwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Greenwood is located in Norfolk City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Grove Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Grove Park is located in Portsmouth City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Park
    • Huntersville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Huntersville is located in Norfolk City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntersville
    • Indian River Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Indian River Park is located in Chesapeake City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian River Park
    • Knob Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Knob Hill is located in Virginia Beach City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knob Hill
    • Oregon Gardens
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Oregon Gardens is located in Portsmouth City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oregon Gardens
    • Pennsytown
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Pennsytown is located in Norfolk City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pennsytown
    • Poplar Halls
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Poplar Halls is located in Norfolk City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Halls
    • Providence Junction
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Providence Junction is located in Chesapeake City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence Junction
    • River Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • River Park is located in Portsmouth City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Park
    • Riverview
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Riverview is located in Norfolk City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
    • Sherry Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Sherry Park is located in Virginia Beach City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sherry Park
    • Tanglewood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Tanglewood is located in Chesapeake City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tanglewood
    • Victory Park
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Victory Park is located in Portsmouth City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Victory Park
    • Williams Court
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Williams Court is located in Portsmouth City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams Court
    • Woodland Terrace
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Woodland Terrace is located in Chesapeake City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Terrace

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 80 miles [128.7 km]<1> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Saint Helena to Richmond, with an average speed<3>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 5 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 148 miles [238.2 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,953 miles [9,580.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,646 miles [10,695.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,528 miles [7,287.1 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Saint Helena) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Saint Helena 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.
<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 Saint Helena 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 Saint Helena. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8279, Longitude: -76.2886       In this case, the coordinates for Saint Helena have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.576 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.765 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.194 degrees.