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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 Tinker, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Tinker and the surrounding area.
- 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 Tinker:
- 37.453742, -80.013933
- 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 Tinker
- 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 Botetourt County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Botetourt County
- Since Tinker is near Roanoke County and also Craig County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Roanoke County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Craig 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 Tinker
Communities Also Named Tinker ...
We found two communities that are also named Tinker.
Within Virginia, the name Tinker is unique.
Beyond Virginia, we know of two communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these two communities, one is located in the United States and the other in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Kentucky
- Clay County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Tinker [Clay County].
- New Brunswick
- This Tinker lies 897 miles [1,443.6 km]<2> to the northeast of the Tinker that is located in Botetourt County.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Tinker ...
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.
- Amsterdam
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Amsterdam is located in Botetourt County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amsterdam
- Craigs Creek ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Craigs Creek is located in Craig County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craigs Creek
- Daleville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Haymakertown
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Haymakertown is located in Botetourt County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haymakertown
- Lone Star
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Lone Star is located in Botetourt County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Star
- Marshalltown
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Marshalltown is located in Craig County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshalltown
- Mason Cove
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Mason Cove is located in Roanoke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason Cove
- Sherry Court
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Sherry Court is located in Roanoke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sherry Court
- Spruce Hill
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Spruce Hill is located in Roanoke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spruce Hill
- Tinker Knoll
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Tinker Knoll is located in Roanoke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tinker Knoll
- Trinity
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Trinity is located in Botetourt County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trinity
- Troutville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Virginia Mineral Springs
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
How Far From Tinker 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 Tinker to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of Tinker once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Tinker and extending to:
- Fincastle, which is the Seat of Botetourt County, lies just to the East Northeast.
- Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 141 miles [226.9 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Tinker to Richmond, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 189 miles [304.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,086 miles [9,794.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,792 miles [10,930.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,669 miles [7,514 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'
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 Tinker 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' (or 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- Tinker) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <3> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | 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 Tinker, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Tinker 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 Tinker. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4537, Longitude: -80.0139 In this case, the coordinates for Tinker have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.711 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.295 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.472 degrees. |
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