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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Vane, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vane 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 Vane:
    • 36.951492, -82.432372
    • 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 Vane
  • 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 Wise County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wise County
    • Since Vane is near Dickenson County and also Russell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dickenson 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 Vane

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vane ...

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.

  • Bondtown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Bondtown is located in Wise County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bondtown
  • Crab Orchard
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Crab Orchard is located in Wise County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crab Orchard
  • Cranes Nest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Cranes Nest is located in Wise County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cranes Nest
  • Dry Fork
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Dry Fork is located in Wise County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Fork
  • Flatwoods
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Flatwoods is located in Wise County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatwoods
  • Herald
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Herald is located in Dickenson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herald
  • Lyons
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Lyons is located in Wise County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyons
  • Maytown
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Maytown is located in Wise County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maytown
  • Riverview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Riverview is located in Wise County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
  • Rural
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Rural is located in Wise County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rural
  • Toms Creek
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Toms Creek is located in Wise County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toms Creek

How Far From Vane to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Vane to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<1> community of Vane once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Vane and extending to:

  • Wise, which is the Seat of Wise County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 277 miles [445.8 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Vane to Richmond, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 16 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 323 miles [519.8 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,210 miles [9,994 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,920 miles [11,136.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,796 miles [7,718.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Vane, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Vane) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Vane 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 Vane. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.9515, Longitude: -82.4324       In this case, the coordinates for Vane have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.159 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.877 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.635 degrees.