RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Stafford County >> WidewaterIndex...

Welcome to Widewater ...

Widewater is located in Stafford County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Widewater, you might consider that their post office opened in 1890.

Widewater is near sea level<2>.

Time Zone: Widewater lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Widewater: 540 & 826<3>

Communities Also Named Widewater ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found another community named Widewater - it's located in Alberta.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Widewater.

Communities near Widewater ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Widewater.

  • Fredericksburg
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • La Plata
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • La Plata is located in Charles County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Plata
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,800 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for La Plata <4>
  • Dumfries
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Dumfries is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dumfries
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,106 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dumfries <4>
  • Indian Head
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Occoquan
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Quantico
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Port Tobacco Village
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Port Tobacco Village is located in Charles County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Tobacco Village
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 15 people
  • Canterbury Village
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Canterbury Village is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canterbury Village
  • Chamberlain Village
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Chamberlain Village is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chamberlain Village
  • Loy Landing
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Loy Landing is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loy Landing

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Widewater. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Widewater.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Widewater. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Widewater.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Widewater. See our Newspapers Page for Widewater.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Widewater ...

Looking for more information about Widewater? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Widewater, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Widewater.

Adding Widewater to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Widewater in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Widewater was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the Widewater post office opened in 1890. The Widewater post office closed in 1959.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Widewater.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Virginia's counties, including Stafford, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Widewater - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 540 code has been Overlayed with the 826 area code. New phone numbers in the Widewater area will be assigned with one of these codes: 540 or 826. As a result, placing a call in the Widewater area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/