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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Shakesville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shakesville 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 Shakesville:
    • 36.609552, -82.139020
    • 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 Shakesville
  • 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 Washington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Since Shakesville is near Bristol City and also Sullivan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bristol City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sullivan 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 Shakesville

Curious and Interesting Names Near Shakesville ...

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.

  • Edgefield
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Edgefield is located in Sullivan County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgefield
  • Evergreen
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Evergreen is located in Sullivan County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
  • Goose Pimple Junction
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Goose Pimple Junction is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goose Pimple Junction
  • High Meadows
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • High Meadows is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Meadows
  • Horizon Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Horizon Hills is located in Bristol City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horizon Hills
  • Hunter Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Hunter Hills is located in Sullivan County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter Hills
    • Population from the 2010 Census: 1,854 people
  • Kingtown
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Kingtown is located in Bristol City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingtown
  • Meadow Crest
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Meadow Crest is located in Bristol City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Crest
  • Paperville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Paperville is located in Sullivan County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paperville
  • Redstone
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Redstone is located in Sullivan County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redstone
  • Shadow Valley
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Shadow Valley is located in Bristol City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadow Valley
  • Spring Garden
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Spring Garden is located in Bristol City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Garden
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Stonegate
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Stonegate is located in Sullivan County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonegate
    • Virginia Heights
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Virginia Heights is located in Bristol City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Heights
    • Virginia Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Virginia Hills is located in Bristol City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Hills
    • Walnut Grove
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Walnut Grove is located in Bristol City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Shakesville and extending to:

  • Abingdon, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Shakesville to Abingdon, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 266 miles [428.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 320 miles [515 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,213 miles [9,998.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,921 miles [11,138.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,797 miles [7,720 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Shakesville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Shakesville 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 Shakesville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.6096, Longitude: -82.1390       In this case, the coordinates for Shakesville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.983 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.626 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.615 degrees.