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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Union Springs, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Union 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 Union Springs:
    • 38.469013, -79.056144
    • 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 Union 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 Rockingham County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rockingham County
    • Since Union Springs is near Augusta County and also Harrisonburg City, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Augusta County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harrisonburg 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 Union Springs

Communities Also Named Union Springs ...

We found four communities that are also named Union Springs.

Within Virginia, the name Union Springs is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Bullock County
      • This Union Springs is located in Bullock County and lies 575 miles [925.4 km]<1> to the southwest of the Union Springs that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bullock County community of Union Springs.
    • Louisiana
      • Sabine Parish
      • This Union Springs is located in Sabine Parish and lies 948 miles [1,525.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Union Springs that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sabine Parish community of Union Springs.
    • New York
      • Cayuga County
      • This Union Springs is located in Cayuga County and lies 326 miles [524.6 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Union Springs that is located in Rockingham County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cayuga County community of Union Springs.
    • Texas
      • Nacogdoches 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 Texas community of Union Springs [Nacogdoches County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Union 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.

  • Centerville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Centerville is located in Augusta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
  • Clover Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Clover Hill is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clover Hill
  • Green Mount
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Green Mount is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Mount
  • Lilly
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Lilly is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lilly
  • Montezuma
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Montezuma is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montezuma
  • Moscow
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Moscow is located in Augusta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moscow
  • New Erection
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • New Erection is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Erection
  • Rushville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Rushville is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rushville
  • Singers Glen
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Singers Glen is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Singers Glen
  • Sparkling Springs
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Sparkling Springs is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparkling Springs
  • Spring Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Spring Creek is located in Rockingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Creek
  • Stokesville ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Stokesville is located in Augusta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stokesville

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

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

  • Harrisonburg, which is the Seat of Rockingham County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Union Springs to Harrisonburg, with an average speed<3> 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 108 miles [173.8 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 112 miles [180.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,001 miles [9,657.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,709 miles [10,797.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,585 miles [7,378.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Union 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 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 Union 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>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 Union 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 Union Springs. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.4690, Longitude: -79.0561       In this case, the coordinates for Union Springs have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.108 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.76 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.723 degrees.