Our Genealogy Helper
Introduction ...
We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:
- That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
- We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
- On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.
By learning about Spruce Hill (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.
As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Spruce Hill. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.
Neighboring Counties ...
When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.
For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.
So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived: their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the south contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.
If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.
Spruce Hill is located in Roanoke County.
To see how the shape of Virginia's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Roanoke County: Bedford, Botetourt, Craig, Floyd, Franklin & Montgomery.
Below are the counties that are near Spruce Hill. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Spruce Hill:
- Roanoke County (The home county of Spruce Hill)
- The following are listed by their distance from Spruce Hill, with the one closest to Spruce Hill listed first.
- Mason Cove
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Mason Cove is located in Roanoke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason Cove
- Hanging Rock
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Hanging Rock is located in Roanoke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hanging Rock
- Catawba
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Hollins
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Moomaw ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Moomaw is located in Roanoke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moomaw
- Vinton
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Wabun
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Wabun is located in Roanoke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wabun
- Cave Spring
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Cave Spring is located in Roanoke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cave Spring
- Montgomery Village
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Montgomery Village is located in Roanoke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montgomery Village
- Riverside
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Riverside is located in Roanoke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside
- Bent Mountain
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Alleghany County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spruce Hill, with the one closest to Spruce Hill listed first.
- Rich Patch
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
- Rich Patch is located in Alleghany County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rich Patch
- Moss Run
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Moss Run is located in Alleghany County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moss Run
- Low Moor
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Bedford City
- Bedford
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Bedford County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spruce Hill, with the one closest to Spruce Hill listed first.
- Villamont
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Villamont is located in Bedford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Villamont
- Montvale
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Coonsville ‑ Historic
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Coonsville is located in Bedford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coonsville
- Chamblissburg
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Chamblissburg is located in Bedford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chamblissburg
- Goodview
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Clevilas ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Clevilas is located in Bedford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clevilas
- Joppa Mill
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Joppa Mill is located in Bedford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joppa Mill
- Peaksville
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Peaksville is located in Bedford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peaksville
- Moneta
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Davis Mill
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Davis Mill is located in Bedford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Davis Mill
- Radford
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Radford is located in Bedford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Radford
- Botetourt County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spruce Hill, with the one closest to Spruce Hill listed first.
- Cloverdale
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Runaway Village
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Runaway Village is located in Botetourt County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Runaway Village
- Apple Tree Village
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Apple Tree Village is located in Botetourt County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apple Tree Village
- Daleville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Amsterdam
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Amsterdam is located in Botetourt County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amsterdam
- Haymakertown
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Haymakertown is located in Botetourt County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haymakertown
- Laymantown
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Laymantown is located in Botetourt County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laymantown
- Troutville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Blue Ridge
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Fincastle
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Botetourt ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Botetourt is located in Botetourt County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Botetourt
- Oriskany
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Lithia
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Lithia is located in Botetourt County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lithia
- Covington City
- Covington
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Craig County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spruce Hill, with the one closest to Spruce Hill listed first.
- Abbott
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Abbott is located in Craig County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abbott
- New Castle
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Simmonsville
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Simmonsville is located in Craig County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Simmonsville
- Huffman
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
- Huffman is located in Craig County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huffman
- Captain
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Captain is located in Craig County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Captain
- Floyd County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spruce Hill, with the one closest to Spruce Hill listed first.
- Simpsons
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Simpsons is located in Floyd County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Simpsons
- Terrys Fork
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Terrys Fork is located in Floyd County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terrys Fork
- Franklin County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spruce Hill, with the one closest to Spruce Hill listed first.
- Boones Mill
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Burnt Chimney
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Burnt Chimney is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnt Chimney
- Algoma
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Algoma is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Algoma
- Gogginsville
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Gogginsville is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gogginsville
- Hickman
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
- Hickman is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickman
- Hales Ford ‑ Historic
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Hales Ford is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hales Ford
- Villa ‑ Historic
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Villa is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Villa
- Westlake Corner
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
- Westlake Corner is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westlake Corner
- Felicia ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Felicia is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Felicia
- Barfoot
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Barfoot is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barfoot
- Rocky Mount
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Redwood
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
- Redwood is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redwood
- North Shore
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- North Shore is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Shore
- Giles County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spruce Hill, with the one closest to Spruce Hill listed first.
- Newport
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Newport is located in Giles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newport
- Kire
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Kire is located in Giles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kire
- Mountain Lake
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Mountain Lake is located in Giles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Lake
- Montgomery County
- The following are listed by their distance from Spruce Hill, with the one closest to Spruce Hill listed first.
- Elliston
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Bennetts Mill
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Bennetts Mill is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bennetts Mill
- Shawsville
(18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
- Alleghany Springs
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Alleghany Springs is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alleghany Springs
- Montgomery
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Montgomery is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montgomery
- Mount Tabor Village
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Mount Tabor Village is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Tabor Village
- Ellett
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
- Ellett is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellett
- Blacksburg
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Houchins
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Houchins is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Houchins
- McBryde Village
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- McBryde Village is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McBryde Village
- Sundance Village
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
- Sundance Village is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sundance Village
- Old Farm Village
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Old Farm Village is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Farm Village
- Raintree Village
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Raintree Village is located in Montgomery County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raintree Village
- Roanoke City
- The following are listed by their distance from Spruce Hill, with the one closest to Spruce Hill listed first.
- Roanoke
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Buena Vista
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Buena Vista is located in Roanoke City
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buena Vista
- Garden City
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Garden City is located in Roanoke City
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
- Rockbridge County
- Springfield
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
- Springfield is located in Rockbridge County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springfield
- Salem City
- The following are listed by their distance from Spruce Hill, with the one closest to Spruce Hill listed first.
- Salem
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Sunset Village
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Sunset Village is located in Salem City
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Village
- Greenbrier County (WV)
- Tuckahoe
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
- Tuckahoe is located in Greenbrier County (WV)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuckahoe
- Monroe County (WV)
- The following are listed by their distance from Spruce Hill, with the one closest to Spruce Hill listed first.
- Hollywood
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Hollywood is located in Monroe County (WV)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollywood
- Hillsdale
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
- Hillsdale is located in Monroe County (WV)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsdale
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Spruce Hill, see our County-by-County Page for Spruce Hill.
Cemeteries Near Spruce Hill ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Spruce Hill.
This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.
Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Spruce Hill - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Spruce Hill covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Spruce Hill, with the one closest to Spruce Hill listed first.
- Obenchain Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Catawba Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Morgan Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Harris Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Loury Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Peters Creek Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Cedar Lawn Burial Park
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Jonathan Tosh Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Riley Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Cain Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- West Hill Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Continue List (534 more) ...
- East Hill Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Sherwood Burial Park
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sherwood Burial Park
- The Sherwood Burial Park has also been known as:
- Sherwood Cemetery
- Sherwood Memorial Park
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #728583 <2>
- Williams Memorial Park
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
Nearby Communities in 1895 ...
We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<3>
While we didn't find Spruce Hill in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Spruce Hill.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Spruce Hill, with the one closest to Spruce Hill listed first.
- Catawba
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Hollins
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Cloverdale
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Moomaw ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Moomaw is located in Roanoke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moomaw
- Daleville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Amsterdam
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Amsterdam is located in Botetourt County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amsterdam
- Abbott
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Abbott is located in Craig County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abbott
- Roanoke
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Vinton
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Bonsack
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Bonsack is located in Roanoke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonsack
- Coyner Springs
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Coyner Springs is located in Botetourt County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coyner Springs
- New Castle
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Continue List (13 more) ...
- Troutville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Looney
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Looney is located in Craig County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Looney
- Cave Spring
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Cave Spring is located in Roanoke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cave Spring
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Spruce Hill. See our List of 1890's Communities around Spruce Hill.
Newspapers Published in Spruce Hill ...
An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.
Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 20 newspapers that have been published in the area around Spruce Hill.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Spruce Hill, there are papers which were published within 5 miles [8 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Spruce Hill.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.
To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Spruce Hill:
- Websites specific to Virginia
- Pages specific to Roanoke County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Alleghany County
- Bedford City
- Bedford County
- Botetourt County
- Covington City
- Craig County
- Floyd County
- Franklin County
- Giles County
- Montgomery County
- Roanoke City
- Rockbridge County
- Salem City
- Greenbrier County
- Monroe County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Virginia
Footnotes ...
| <1> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <2> | The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com. |
| <3> | 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 Spruce Hill, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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- Spruce Hill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |