RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Prince William County >> Waterfall >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Waterfall, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Waterfall 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 Waterfall:
    • 38.862336, -77.671659
    • 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 Waterfall
  • 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 Prince William County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince William County
    • Since Waterfall is near Fauquier County and also Prince George County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fauquier County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince George 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 Waterfall

Communities Also Named Waterfall ...

We found six communities that are also named Waterfall.

Within Virginia, the name Waterfall is unique.

Beyond Virginia, we know of six communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, five are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alaska
      • This Waterfall lies 2,759 miles [4,440.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Waterfall that is located in Prince William County.
    • New Mexico
      • Otero 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 New Mexico community of Waterfall [Otero County].
    • Ontario
      • This Waterfall lies 538 miles [865.8 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Waterfall that is located in Prince William County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Fulton County
      • This Waterfall is located in Fulton County and lies 89 miles [143.2 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Waterfall that is located in Prince William County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fulton County community of Waterfall.
    • Wyoming
      • Lincoln 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 Wyoming community of Waterfall [Lincoln County].
      • Uinta County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wyoming community of Waterfall [Uinta County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Waterfall ...

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.

  • Crescent
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Crescent is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent
  • Evergreen Farms
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Evergreen Farms is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Farms
  • Halfway
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Halfway is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halfway
  • Haymarket
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Hickory Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hickory Grove is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Grove
  • Hopewell
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Hopewell is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell
  • Lakeview
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Lakeview is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Landmark
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Landmark is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Landmark
  • Little Georgetown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Little Georgetown is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Georgetown
  • Pilgrims Rest
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Pilgrims Rest is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilgrims Rest
  • Snow Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Snow Hill is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snow Hill
  • Waterfall Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Waterfall Village is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterfall Village

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 92 miles [148.1 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Waterfall to Richmond, with an average speed<4>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 34 miles [54.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take most of two days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,926 miles [9,537 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,632 miles [10,673.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,509 miles [7,256.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Waterfall) 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 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 Waterfall 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Waterfall 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 Waterfall. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8623, Longitude: -77.6717       In this case, the coordinates for Waterfall have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.267 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.862 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.995 degrees.