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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Villa Del-Ray, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Villa Del-Ray 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 Villa Del-Ray:
    • 38.767058, -77.187482
    • 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 Villa Del-Ray
  • 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 Villa Del-Ray is near Alexandria City and also Arlington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alexandria City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Arlington 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 Villa Del-Ray

Communities Also Named Villa Del-Ray ...

We found one communities that are also named Villa Del-Ray.

Within Virginia, the name Villa Del-Ray is unique.

Beyond Virginia, there is another community also named Villa Del-Ray in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Palm Beach 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 Florida community of Villa Del-Ray [Palm Beach County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Villa Del-Ray ...

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.

  • Alpine
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Alpine is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
  • Cedar Crest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Cedar Crest is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Crest
  • Five Forks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Five Forks is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Forks
  • Hayfield
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Hayfield is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayfield
  • Hillbrook
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Hillbrook is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillbrook
  • Homewood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Homewood is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homewood
  • Indian Run Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Indian Run Park is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Run Park
  • Indian Springs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Indian Springs is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Springs
  • Kings Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Kings Park is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Park
  • Mount Pleasant
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Raceway Farms
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Raceway Farms is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raceway Farms
  • Red Fox Forest
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Red Fox Forest is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Fox Forest
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Ridgeview
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Ridgeview is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgeview
    • Rollingwood
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Rollingwood is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rollingwood
    • Rose Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Rose Hill is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Hill
    • Silver Springs
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Silver Springs is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Springs
    • Virginia Hills
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Virginia Hills is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Hills
    • Willow Run
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Willow Run is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Run
    • Woodlawn
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Woodlawn is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn

How Far From Villa Del-Ray 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 Villa Del-Ray to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Villa Del-Ray and extending to:

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 85 miles [136.8 km]<2> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Villa Del-Ray to Richmond, with an average speed<3>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 northeast (NE). The buggy would take nearly four hours and walking would take five to six hours.
  • The shortest distance<4> 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).<5>
  • 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).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,491 miles [7,227.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Villa Del-Ray 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 '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- Villa Del-Ray) 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 Villa Del-Ray 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 Villa Del-Ray. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.7671, Longitude: -77.1875       In this case, the coordinates for Villa Del-Ray have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.986 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.529 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.827 degrees.