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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Wheatfield, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wheatfield 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 Wheatfield:
    • 39.073440, -78.372228
    • 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 Wheatfield
  • 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 Shenandoah County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shenandoah County
    • Since Wheatfield is near Frederick County and also Hampshire County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Frederick County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hampshire 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 Wheatfield

Communities Also Named Wheatfield ...

We found three communities that are also named Wheatfield.

Within Virginia, the name Wheatfield is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Jasper County
      • This Wheatfield is located in Jasper County and lies 480 miles [772.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Wheatfield that is located in Shenandoah County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jasper County community of Wheatfield.
    • Michigan
      • Calhoun 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 Wheatfield [Calhoun County].
    • South Carolina
      • Greenwood County
      • This Wheatfield is located in Greenwood County and lies 393 miles [632.5 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Wheatfield that is located in Shenandoah County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greenwood County community of Wheatfield.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Wheatfield ...

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.

  • Bloom ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Bloom is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloom
  • Fawcett Gap
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Fawcett Gap is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fawcett Gap
  • Gravel Springs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Gravel Springs is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gravel Springs
  • Meadow Mills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Meadow Mills is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Mills
  • Mount Hope
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Mount Hope is located in Shenandoah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
  • Mount Williams
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Mount Williams is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Williams
  • Mountain Falls
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Mountain Falls is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Falls
  • Poplar Ridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Poplar Ridge is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Ridge

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

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

  • Woodstock, which is the Seat of Shenandoah County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Wheatfield to Woodstock, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 117 miles [188.3 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 72 miles [115.9 km] to the east (E). Driving would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 4 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,946 miles [9,569.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,655 miles [10,710.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,531 miles [7,291.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Wheatfield) 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 Wheatfield 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 Wheatfield 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 Wheatfield. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.0734, Longitude: -78.3722       In this case, the coordinates for Wheatfield have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.672 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.355 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.214 degrees.