RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Scott County >> Twin Springs >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Twin Springs, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Twin Springs 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 Twin Springs:
    • 36.774823, -82.464318
    • 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 Twin Springs
  • 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 Scott County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Scott County
    • Since Twin Springs is near Russell County and also Wise County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Russell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wise 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 Twin Springs

Communities Also Named Twin Springs ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Twin Springs.

Within Virginia, the name Twin Springs is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Benton County
      • This Twin Springs is located in Benton County and lies 671 miles [1,079.9 km]<1> to the west of the Twin Springs that is located in Scott County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Benton County community of Twin Springs.
      • Pulaski County
      • This Twin Springs is located in Pulaski County and lies 578 miles [930.2 km] to the west of the Twin Springs that is located in Scott County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pulaski County community of Twin Springs.
    • Idaho
      • Boise County
      • This Twin Springs is located in Boise County and lies 1,802 miles [2,900 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Twin Springs that is located in Scott County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boise County community of Twin Springs.
    • Iowa
      • Dubuque County
      • This Twin Springs is located in Dubuque County and lies 595 miles [957.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Twin Springs that is located in Scott County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dubuque County community of Twin Springs.
      • Jackson County
      • This Twin Springs is located in Jackson County and lies 556 miles [894.8 km] to the northwest of the Twin Springs that is located in Scott County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Twin Springs.
      • Winneshiek County
      • This Twin Springs is located in Winneshiek County and lies 662 miles [1,065.4 km] to the northwest of the Twin Springs that is located in Scott County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Winneshiek County community of Twin Springs.
    • Kansas
      • Linn 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 Kansas community of Twin Springs [Linn County].
    • Missouri
      • Franklin County
      • This Twin Springs is located in Franklin County and lies 482 miles [775.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Twin Springs that is located in Scott County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Twin Springs.
    • Nevada
      • Nye County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Nye County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nye County community of Twin Springs.
    • Tennessee
      • Knox County
      • This Twin Springs is located in Knox County and lies 111 miles [178.6 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Twin Springs that is located in Scott County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Knox County community of Twin Springs.
      • Rutherford County
      • This Twin Springs is located in Rutherford County and lies 225 miles [362.1 km] to the west southwest of the Twin Springs that is located in Scott County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rutherford County community of Twin Springs.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Twin Springs ...

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.

  • Bush Mill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Bush Mill is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bush Mill
  • Clinch
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Clinch is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clinch
  • Crackers Neck
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Crackers Neck is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crackers Neck
  • Deans Store
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Deans Store is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deans Store
  • Grassy Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Grassy Creek is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grassy Creek
  • Grays
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Grays is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays
  • Grays Ford
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Grays Ford is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays Ford
  • Little Duck
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Little Duck is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Duck
  • Point Truth
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Point Truth is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Truth
  • Snowflake
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Snowflake is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snowflake
  • Stony
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Stony is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony
  • Stringtown
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Stringtown is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stringtown
  • Sunny Point
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Sunny Point is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunny Point

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

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

  • Gate City, which is the Seat of Scott County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Twin Springs to Gate City, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 281 miles [452.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 330 miles [531.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,219 miles [10,008.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,929 miles [11,151.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,805 miles [7,732.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Twin Springs) 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 Twin Springs 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>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 Twin Springs, 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 Twin Springs 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 Twin Springs. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.7748, Longitude: -82.4643       In this case, the coordinates for Twin Springs have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.178 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.873 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.701 degrees.