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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Westbriar, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Westbriar 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 Westbriar:
    • 37.623201, -77.562487
    • 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 Westbriar
  • 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 Henrico County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henrico County
    • Since Westbriar is near Richmond County and also Goochland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Richmond County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Goochland 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 Westbriar

Communities Also Named Westbriar ...

We found two communities that are also named Westbriar.

Within Virginia, the name Westbriar is unique.

Beyond Virginia, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Maricopa County
      • This Westbriar is located in Maricopa County and lies 1,958 miles [3,151.1 km]<1> to the west of the Westbriar that is located in Henrico County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Maricopa County community of Westbriar.
    • Indiana
      • Delaware 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 Indiana community of Westbriar [Delaware County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Westbriar ...

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.

  • Cherokee Hills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Cherokee Hills is located in Richmond County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee Hills
  • English Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • English Hills is located in Henrico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for English Hills
  • Erin Shades
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Erin Shades is located in Henrico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erin Shades
  • Glen Allen
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Greenwood
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Greenwood is located in Henrico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Hobby Hill Farms
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Hobby Hill Farms is located in Richmond County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobby Hill Farms
  • Holiday Hills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Holiday Hills is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hills
  • Laurel Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Laurel Park is located in Henrico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laurel Park
  • Longdale
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Longdale is located in Henrico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longdale
  • Lorraine
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Lorraine is located in Henrico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lorraine
  • Lower Tuckahoe
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lower Tuckahoe is located in Goochland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Tuckahoe
  • Mooreland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Mooreland is located in Henrico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mooreland
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Pagebrook
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Pagebrook is located in Goochland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pagebrook
    • Quail Walk
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Quail Walk is located in Henrico County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Walk
    • Randolph Ridge
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Randolph Ridge is located in Henrico County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph Ridge
    • Shady Grove
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Shady Grove is located in Henrico County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
    • Short Pump
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Sweet Briar Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Sweet Briar Park is located in Henrico County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Briar Park
    • Yellow Tavern
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Yellow Tavern is located in Henrico County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yellow Tavern
    • Ziontown
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Ziontown is located in Henrico County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ziontown

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies just to the southeast (SE).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 92 miles [148.1 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Westbriar to White House, 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 shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,974 miles [9,614.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,675 miles [10,742.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,553 miles [7,327.3 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Westbriar) 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 Westbriar 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 Westbriar 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 Westbriar. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.6232, Longitude: -77.5625       In this case, the coordinates for Westbriar have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.268 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.674 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.408 degrees.