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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Tiptop, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Tiptop 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 Tiptop:
    • 37.210949, -81.433994
    • 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 Tiptop
  • 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 Tazewell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tazewell County
    • Since Tiptop is near McDowell County and also Mercer County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McDowell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mercer 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 Tiptop

Communities Also Named Tiptop ...

We found three communities that are also named Tiptop.

Within Virginia, the name Tiptop is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Magoffin County
      • This Tiptop is located in Magoffin County and lies 93 miles [149.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Tiptop that is located in Tazewell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Magoffin County community of Tiptop.
    • North Carolina
      • Transylvania 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 North Carolina community of Tiptop [Transylvania County].
    • Tennessee
      • Bledsoe County
      • This Tiptop is located in Bledsoe County and lies 236 miles [379.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Tiptop that is located in Tazewell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bledsoe County community of Tiptop.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Tiptop ...

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.

  • Abbs Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Abbs Valley is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abbs Valley
  • Bishop
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Bishop is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bishop
  • Drytown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Drytown is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drytown
  • Five Oaks
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Five Oaks is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Oaks
  • Fourway
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Fourway is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fourway
  • Horsepen
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Horsepen is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horsepen
  • Horsepen Cove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Horsepen Cove is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horsepen Cove
  • Jenkinjones
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jenkinjones is located in McDowell County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkinjones
  • Mud Fork
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Mud Fork is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mud Fork
  • Sam
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Sam is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sam
  • Stony Ridge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Stony Ridge is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Ridge

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

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

  • Tazewell, which is the Seat of Tazewell County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 220 miles [354.1 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Tiptop 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 13 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 265 miles [426.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,156 miles [9,907.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,865 miles [11,048.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,741 miles [7,629.9 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Tiptop) 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 Tiptop 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 Tiptop 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 Tiptop. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.2109, Longitude: -81.4340       In this case, the coordinates for Tiptop have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.559 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.229 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.14 degrees.