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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Vandyke, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vandyke 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 Vandyke:
    • 37.142056, -81.922623
    • 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 Vandyke
  • 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 Buchanan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Buchanan County
    • Since Vandyke is near Tazewell County and also Russell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tazewell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Russell 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 Vandyke

Communities Also Named Vandyke ...

We found four communities that are also named Vandyke.

Within Virginia, the name Vandyke is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • New Castle County
      • This Vandyke is located in New Castle County and lies 368 miles [592.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Vandyke that is located in Buchanan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Castle County community of Vandyke.
    • Kentucky
      • Anderson 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 Kentucky community of Vandyke [Anderson County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Juniata County
      • This Vandyke is located in Juniata County and lies 341 miles [548.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Vandyke that is located in Buchanan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Juniata County community of Vandyke.
    • Texas
      • Comanche County
      • This Vandyke is located in Comanche County and lies 1,009 miles [1,623.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Vandyke that is located in Buchanan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Comanche County community of Vandyke.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vandyke ...

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.

  • Dye
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Dye is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dye
  • Fork Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Fork Ridge is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fork Ridge
  • Horn
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Horn is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horn
  • Lynn Spring
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Lynn Spring is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynn Spring
  • Marvin
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Marvin is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marvin
  • Mount Heron
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Heron is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Heron
  • Page
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Page is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Page
  • Premier
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Premier is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Premier
  • Raven
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Raven is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raven
  • Red Ash
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Red Ash is located in Tazewell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Ash
  • Shack Mills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Shack Mills is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shack Mills

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

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

  • Grundy, which is the Seat of Buchanan County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Vandyke to Grundy, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 247 miles [397.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 292 miles [469.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,180 miles [9,945.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,890 miles [11,088.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,766 miles [7,670.1 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- Vandyke) 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 Vandyke 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 Vandyke 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 Vandyke. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.1421, Longitude: -81.9226       In this case, the coordinates for Vandyke have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.852 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.554 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.365 degrees.