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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Virginia Beach, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Virginia Beach 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 Virginia Beach:
    • 36.851956, -75.977363
    • 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 Virginia Beach
  • 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 Virginia Beach

Communities Also Named Virginia Beach ...

We found one communities that are also named Virginia Beach.

Within Virginia, the name Virginia Beach is unique.

Beyond Virginia, there is another community also named Virginia Beach in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Virginia Beach.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Virginia Beach ...

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.

  • Cape Story by the Sea
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cape Story by the Sea is located in Virginia Beach City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cape Story by the Sea
  • Dam Neck Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Dam Neck Corner is located in Virginia Beach City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dam Neck Corner
  • Eastern Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Eastern Park is located in Virginia Beach City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastern Park
  • Eureka Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Eureka Park is located in Virginia Beach City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka Park
  • Kings Arm
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Kings Arm is located in Virginia Beach City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Arm
  • Kings Grant
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Kings Grant is located in Virginia Beach City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Grant
  • Lake View
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Lake View is located in Virginia Beach City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake View
  • Linkhorn
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Linkhorn is located in Virginia Beach City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Linkhorn
  • Little Haven
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Little Haven is located in Virginia Beach City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Haven
  • London Bridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • London Bridge is located in Virginia Beach City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for London Bridge
  • Lynnhaven
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Lynnhaven is located in Virginia Beach City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynnhaven
  • Magic Hollow
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Magic Hollow is located in Virginia Beach City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magic Hollow
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Malibu
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Malibu is located in Virginia Beach City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malibu
    • Pecan Gardens
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Pecan Gardens is located in Virginia Beach City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pecan Gardens
    • Robinhood Forest
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Robinhood Forest is located in Virginia Beach City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robinhood Forest
    • Woodhouse Corner
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Woodhouse Corner is located in Virginia Beach City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodhouse Corner

How Far From Virginia Beach 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 city such as Virginia Beach to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 93 miles [149.7 km]<2> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Virginia Beach 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 6 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 152 miles [244.6 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,938 miles [9,556.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,631 miles [10,671.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,513 miles [7,263 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 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 Virginia Beach 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 . 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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Virginia Beach) 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 Virginia Beach 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 Virginia Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8520, Longitude: -75.9774    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.399 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.566 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.064 degrees.