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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Truro, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Truro 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 Truro:
    • 38.832500, -77.246944
    • 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 Truro
  • 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 Fairfax County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fairfax County
    • Since Truro is near Fairfax City and also Falls Church City, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fairfax City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Falls Church City
  • 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 Truro

Communities Also Named Truro ...

We found seven communities that are also named Truro.

Within Virginia, the name Truro is unique.

Beyond Virginia, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these seven communities, six are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Park 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 Colorado community of Truro [Park County].
    • Illinois
      • Knox County
      • This Truro is located in Knox County and lies 692 miles [1,113.7 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Truro that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Knox County community of Truro.
    • Iowa
      • Madison County
      • This Truro is located in Madison County and lies 891 miles [1,433.9 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Truro that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Truro.
    • Massachusetts
      • Barnstable County
      • This Truro is located in Barnstable County and lies 436 miles [701.7 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Truro that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Barnstable County community of Truro.
    • North Dakota
      • Bottineau County
      • This Truro is located in Bottineau County and lies 1,376 miles [2,214.5 km]<2> to the northwest of the Truro that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bottineau County community of Truro.
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Truro lies 843 miles [1,356.7 km]<2> to the northeast of the Truro that is located in Fairfax County.
    • Ohio
      • Franklin County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Truro [Franklin County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Truro ...

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.

  • Camelot
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Camelot is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camelot
  • Cedar Crest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Cedar Crest is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Crest
  • Chestnut Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Chestnut Hill is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Hill
  • Doveville
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Doveville is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doveville
  • Fair Oaks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Fair Oaks is located in Fairfax City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Oaks
  • Greenway Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Greenway Hills is located in Fairfax City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenway Hills
  • Holly Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Holly Park is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Park
  • Homewood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Homewood is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homewood
  • Hunts Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Hunts Village is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunts Village
  • Kings Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Kings Park is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Park
  • Lee Forest
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Lee Forest is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lee Forest
  • Lee Meadows
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Lee Meadows is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lee Meadows
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Little River Hills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Little River Hills is located in Fairfax City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little River Hills
    • Maple Hills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Maple Hills is located in Fairfax City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Hills
    • Pine Ridge
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Pine Ridge is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Ridge
    • Pleasant Ridge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Pleasant Ridge is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
    • Red Fox Forest
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Red Fox Forest is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Fox Forest
    • Willow Woods
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Willow Woods is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Woods

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 89 miles [143.2 km]<2> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Truro to Richmond, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 12 miles [19.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). The buggy would take nearly four hours and walking would take five to six hours.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,909 miles [9,509.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,614 miles [10,644.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,491 miles [7,227.6 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 Truro 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Truro) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Truro, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Truro 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 Truro. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8325, Longitude: -77.2469       In this case, the coordinates for Truro have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.017 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.574 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.827 degrees.