RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Isle of Wight County >> Whitley >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Whitley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Whitley 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 Whitley:
    • 36.885427, -76.759403
    • 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 Whitley
  • 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 Isle of Wight County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Isle of Wight County
    • Since Whitley is near Southampton County and also Suffolk City, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Southampton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Suffolk 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 Whitley

Communities Also Named Whitley ...

We found three communities that are also named Whitley.

Within Virginia, the name Whitley is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • McCreary County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Whitley [McCreary County].
      • Pulaski 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 Kentucky community of Whitley [Pulaski County].
    • Louisiana
      • De Soto Parish
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Whitley [De Soto Parish].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Whitley ...

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.

  • Comet
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Comet is located in Isle of Wight County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comet
  • Doles Crossroads
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Doles Crossroads is located in Southampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doles Crossroads
  • Dwight
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Dwight is located in Isle of Wight County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dwight
  • Foursquare
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Foursquare is located in Isle of Wight County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foursquare
  • Isle of Wight
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Longview
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Longview is located in Isle of Wight County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview
  • Magnet
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Magnet is located in Isle of Wight County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnet
  • Muddy Cross
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Muddy Cross is located in Isle of Wight County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muddy Cross
  • Providence Church
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Providence Church is located in Suffolk City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence Church
  • Seacock Corner
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Seacock Corner is located in Southampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seacock Corner
  • Sycamore Crossroads
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Sycamore Crossroads is located in Isle of Wight County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore Crossroads
  • Unity
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Unity is located in Southampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unity

How Far From Whitley to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Whitley to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Whitley and extending to:

  • Isle of Wight, which is the Seat of Isle of Wight County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 58 miles [93.3 km]<4> to the northwest (NW). If you could walk a straight line from Whitley to Richmond, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 139 miles [223.7 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,971 miles [9,609.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,666 miles [10,727.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,547 miles [7,317.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Whitley 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.
<2>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 Whitley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Whitley) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<5>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.
<6>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 Whitley 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 Whitley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8854, Longitude: -76.7594       In this case, the coordinates for Whitley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.841 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.076 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.357 degrees.