Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Slate, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Slate and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Slate
- 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 Slate:
- 37.305667, -81.949013
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Slate
- 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 Buchanan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Buchanan County
- Since Slate is near McDowell County and also Pike County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for McDowell County
- eBird sighting report for Pike 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Slate ...
We found six communities that share the name Slate.
Within Virginia, the name Slate is unique.
Beyond Virginia, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Indiana
- Kansas
- North Carolina
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Slate ...
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.
- Dan
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast) - Dwight
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south) - Hanger
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest) - Height
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east) - Home Creek
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Home Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Home Creek
- Home Creek is located in Buchanan County
- Horn
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast) - Janey
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Janey
- Janey is located in Buchanan County
- Longbottom
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Longbottom have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longbottom
- Longbottom is located in Buchanan County
- Marvin
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south) - Continue List (6 more) ...
- Mount Heron
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Heron have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Heron
- Mount Heron is located in Buchanan County
- Peapatch
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east) - Rockridge
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast) - Royal City
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Royal City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal City
- Royal City is located in Buchanan County
- Shack Mills
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shack Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shack Mills
- Shack Mills is located in Buchanan County
- Stacy
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Mount Heron
How Far From Slate to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Slate to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Slate and extending to:
- Grundy, which is the Seat of Buchanan County, lies just to the West Southwest.
- Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 248 miles [399.1 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Slate to Richmond, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 14 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 10 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 288 miles [463.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,173 miles [9,934.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,884 miles [11,078.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,760 miles [7,660.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Slate. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Virginia: https://www.virginia.gov/
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 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 Slate 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Slate) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Slate. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3057, Longitude: -81.9490 In this case, the coordinates for Slate have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <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 Slate 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 310.867 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.594 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.326 degrees. |