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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Statesville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Statesville 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 Statesville:
    • 36.546389, -77.072827
    • 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 Statesville
  • 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 Southampton County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Southampton County
    • Since Statesville is near Hertford County and also Northampton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hertford County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Northampton 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 Statesville

Communities Also Named Statesville ...

We found four communities that are also named Statesville.

Within Virginia, the name Statesville is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Autauga County
      • This Statesville is located in Autauga County and lies 622 miles [1,001 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Statesville that is located in Southampton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Autauga County community of Statesville.
    • Georgia
      • Echols 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 Georgia community of Statesville [Echols County].
    • North Carolina
      • Iredell County
      • This Statesville is located in Iredell County and lies 218 miles [350.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Statesville that is located in Southampton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Iredell County community of Statesville.
    • Tennessee
      • Wilson County
      • This Statesville is located in Wilson County and lies 504 miles [811.1 km]<1> to the west of the Statesville that is located in Southampton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wilson County community of Statesville.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Statesville ...

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.

  • Branchville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Cross Keys
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Cross Keys is located in Southampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Keys
  • Delaware
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Delaware is located in Southampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delaware
  • Delaware Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Delaware Park is located in Southampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delaware Park
  • Gum
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Gum is located in Southampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gum
  • High Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • High Hill is located in Hertford County (NC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Hill
  • Mill Neck
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Mill Neck is located in Hertford County (NC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mill Neck
  • Sunbeam
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Sweepstakes ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Sweepstakes is located in Southampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweepstakes

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

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

  • Courtland, which is the Seat of Southampton County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Statesville to Courtland, with an average speed<3> 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 71 miles [114.3 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take 4 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 162 miles [260.7 km] to the north (N). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,999 miles [9,654.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,693 miles [10,771.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,575 miles [7,362.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Statesville) 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 Statesville 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.
<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 Statesville 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 Statesville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.5464, Longitude: -77.0728    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.035 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.246 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.602 degrees.