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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Whiteoak, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Whiteoak 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 Whiteoak:
    • 36.716804, -79.394747
    • 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 Whiteoak
  • 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 Pittsylvania County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pittsylvania County
    • Since Whiteoak is near Madison County and also Danville City, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Danville City
  • 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 Whiteoak

Communities Also Named Whiteoak ...

We found five communities that are also named Whiteoak.

Within Virginia, the name Whiteoak is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Colbert County
      • This Whiteoak is located in Colbert County and lies 477 miles [767.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Whiteoak that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Colbert County community of Whiteoak.
    • Illinois
      • Saint Clair County
      • This Whiteoak is located in Saint Clair County and lies 575 miles [925.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Whiteoak that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Clair County community of Whiteoak.
    • Indiana
      • Pike County
      • This Whiteoak is located in Pike County and lies 439 miles [706.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Whiteoak that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pike County community of Whiteoak.
    • Mississippi
      • Smith 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 Mississippi community of Whiteoak [Smith County].
    • Tennessee
      • Williamson County
      • This Whiteoak is located in Williamson County and lies 436 miles [701.7 km]<1> to the west of the Whiteoak that is located in Pittsylvania County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Williamson County community of Whiteoak.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Whiteoak ...

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.

  • Beaver Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Beaver Park is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Park
  • Cartersville
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Cartersville is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cartersville
  • Dry Fork
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Dry Fork is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Fork
  • Jones Mill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jones Mill is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones Mill
  • Lumpkin Forest
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Lumpkin Forest is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lumpkin Forest
  • Major Court
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Major Court is located in Danville City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Major Court
  • New Design
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • New Design is located in Danville City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Design
  • Olde Hunting Hills
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Olde Hunting Hills is located in Pittsylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olde Hunting Hills
  • Pine Crest
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Pine Crest is located in Danville City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Crest
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Pleasant Gap
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Pleasant Gap is located in Pittsylvania County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Gap
    • Spring Garden
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Spring Garden is located in Pittsylvania County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Garden
    • Virginia Hills
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Virginia Hills is located in Danville City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Hills
    • Woodlake Park
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Woodlake Park is located in Pittsylvania County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlake Park
    • Woodlawn
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Woodlawn is located in Pittsylvania County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn
    • Woodlawn Heights
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Woodlawn Heights is located in Pittsylvania County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn Heights

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Whiteoak once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Whiteoak and extending to:

  • Chatham, which is the Seat of Pittsylvania County, lies just to the North.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 121 miles [194.7 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Whiteoak to Richmond, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 198 miles [318.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,092 miles [9,804.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,793 miles [10,932.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,672 miles [7,518.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Whiteoak) 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 Whiteoak 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Whiteoak, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Whiteoak 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 Whiteoak. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.7168, Longitude: -79.3947       In this case, the coordinates for Whiteoak have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.365 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.791 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.463 degrees.