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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Weller, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Weller 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 Weller:
    • 37.329832, -82.176248
    • 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 Weller
  • 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 Buchanan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Buchanan County
    • Since Weller is near Pike County and also Dickenson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pike County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dickenson 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 Weller

Communities Also Named Weller ...

We found six communities that are also named Weller.

Within Virginia, the name Weller 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 ...
    • Alabama
      • Jefferson County
      • This Weller is located in Jefferson County and lies 392 miles [630.9 km]<1> to the southwest of the Weller that is located in Buchanan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Weller.
    • Colorado
      • Park County
      • This Weller is located in Park County and lies 1,273 miles [2,048.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Weller that is located in Buchanan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Park County community of Weller.
    • Iowa
      • Monroe County
      • This Weller is located in Monroe County and lies 636 miles [1,023.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Weller that is located in Buchanan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monroe County community of Weller.
    • Michigan
      • Chippewa 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 Michigan community of Weller [Chippewa County].
    • North Dakota
      • McLean 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 North Dakota community of Weller [McLean County].
    • Ontario
      • This Weller lies 561 miles [902.8 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Weller that is located in Buchanan County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Weller ...

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.

  • Big Rock
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Big Rock is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Rock
  • Fedscreek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Fedscreek is located in Pike County (KY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fedscreek
  • Home Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Home Creek is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Home Creek
  • Lick Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Lick Creek is located in Pike County (KY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lick Creek
  • Longbottom
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Longbottom is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longbottom
  • Maxie
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Maxie is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxie
  • Mikegrady
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Mikegrady is located in Pike County (KY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mikegrady
  • Motley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Motley is located in Pike County (KY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Motley
  • Pearly
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Pearly is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearly
  • Royal City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Royal City is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal City
  • Tookland
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Tookland is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tookland

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

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

  • Grundy, which is the Seat of Buchanan County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 260 miles [418.4 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Weller 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 15 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 299 miles [481.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,182 miles [9,949 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,893 miles [11,093.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,769 miles [7,675 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Weller) 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 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 Weller 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 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 Weller 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 Weller. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3298, Longitude: -82.1762       In this case, the coordinates for Weller have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.003 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.754 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.414 degrees.