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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Tobacco, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Tobacco 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 Tobacco:
    • 36.889870, -77.937499
    • 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 Tobacco
  • 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 Brunswick County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Brunswick County
    • Since Tobacco is near Lunenburg County and also Nottoway County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lunenburg County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Nottoway 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 Tobacco

Communities Also Named Tobacco ...

We found two communities that are also named Tobacco.

Within Virginia, the name Tobacco is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Calloway 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 Tobacco [Calloway County].
    • Montana
      • Lincoln County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Montana community of Tobacco [Lincoln County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Tobacco ...

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.

  • Alberta
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Alberta is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alberta
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 265 people
  • Bishops Corner
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Bishops Corner is located in Lunenburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bishops Corner
  • Cool Spring
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Cool Spring is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cool Spring
  • Danieltown
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Danieltown is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danieltown
  • Edmunds Store
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Edmunds Store is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edmunds Store
  • Forkland ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Forkland is located in Nottoway County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forkland
  • Gills Corner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Gills Corner is located in Lunenburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gills Corner
  • Hickory Run
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Hickory Run is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Run
  • Octagon
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Octagon is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Octagon
  • Price Mill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Price Mill is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Price Mill
  • Rocky Ford
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Rocky Ford is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ford
  • Stones Mill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Stones Mill is located in Lunenburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stones Mill
  • Sturgeonville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Sturgeonville is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sturgeonville
  • Vote
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Vote is located in Brunswick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vote

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Tobacco and extending to:

  • Lawrenceville, which is the Seat of Brunswick County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<3> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Tobacco to Lawrenceville, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 52 miles [83.7 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 147 miles [236.6 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,022 miles [9,691.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,720 miles [10,814.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,600 miles [7,403 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Tobacco 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>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 Tobacco, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Tobacco) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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.
<5>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 Tobacco 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 Tobacco. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8899, Longitude: -77.9375       In this case, the coordinates for Tobacco have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.516 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.847 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.821 degrees.