RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Stony Battery, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Stony Battery 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 Stony Battery:
    • 36.744838, -81.565116
    • 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 Stony Battery
  • 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 Smyth County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Smyth County
    • Since Stony Battery is near Grayson County and also Washington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grayson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington 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 Stony Battery

Curious and Interesting Names Near Stony Battery ...

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.

  • Big Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Big Hill is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Hill
  • Chilhowie
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Dry Fork
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Dry Fork is located in Smyth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Fork
  • Furnace Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Furnace Hill is located in Smyth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Furnace Hill
  • Horseshoe Bend
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Horseshoe Bend is located in Smyth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horseshoe Bend
  • Loves Mill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Loves Mill is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loves Mill
  • Marion
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Roberts Mill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Roberts Mill is located in Smyth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roberts Mill
  • Seven Mile Ford
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Seven Mile Ford is located in Smyth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven Mile Ford
  • Slabtown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Slabtown is located in Smyth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slabtown
  • Sugar Grove
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Sugar Grove is located in Smyth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Grove
  • Trout Dale
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Stony Battery and extending to:

  • Marion, which is the Seat of Smyth County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 233 miles [375 km]<2> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Stony Battery to Richmond, with an average speed<3>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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,183 miles [9,950.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,890 miles [11,088.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,767 miles [7,671.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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>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- Stony Battery) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Stony Battery 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 Stony Battery. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.7448, Longitude: -81.5651       In this case, the coordinates for Stony Battery have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.641 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.254 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.337 degrees.