RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Wythe County >> Walton Furnace >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Walton Furnace, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Walton Furnace 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 Walton Furnace:
    • 36.883733, -80.934524
    • 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 Walton Furnace
  • 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 Wythe County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wythe County
    • Since Walton Furnace is near Carroll County and also Pulaski County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Carroll County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pulaski 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 Walton Furnace

Curious and Interesting Names Near Walton Furnace ...

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.

  • Bethany
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Bethany is located in Carroll County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bethany
  • Buck
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Buck is located in Carroll County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buck
  • Farmers Store
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Farmers Store is located in Wythe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmers Store
  • Flatwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Flatwood is located in Wythe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatwood
  • Fowler Ferry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Fowler Ferry is located in Carroll County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fowler Ferry
  • Galena
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Galena is located in Wythe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galena
  • Grahams Forge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Grahams Forge is located in Wythe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grahams Forge
  • Ivanhoe
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Locust Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Locust Hill is located in Wythe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Hill
  • Pierce Mill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Pierce Mill is located in Wythe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierce Mill
  • Porters Crossroads
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Porters Crossroads is located in Wythe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porters Crossroads
  • Rackettown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Rackettown is located in Wythe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rackettown
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Raketown
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Raketown is located in Carroll County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raketown
    • Red Hill
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Red Hill is located in Wythe County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Hill
    • Sheep Town
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Sheep Town is located in Carroll County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheep Town
    • Shorts Creek
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Shorts Creek is located in Carroll County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shorts Creek

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

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

  • Wytheville, which is the Seat of Wythe County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Walton Furnace to Wytheville, 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 197 miles [317 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 253 miles [407.2 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,150 miles [9,897.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,856 miles [11,033.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,733 miles [7,617 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Walton Furnace) 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 Walton Furnace 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 Walton Furnace. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8837, Longitude: -80.9345       In this case, the coordinates for Walton Furnace have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.266 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.846 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.035 degrees.