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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Wren, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wren 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 Wren:
    • 37.118755, -78.849733
    • 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 Wren
  • 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 Charlotte County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Charlotte County
    • Since Wren is near Campbell County and also Halifax County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Campbell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Halifax 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 Wren

Communities Also Named Wren ...

We found six communities that are also named Wren.

Within Virginia, the name Wren is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Lawrence County
      • This Wren is located in Lawrence County and lies 507 miles [815.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Wren that is located in Charlotte County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lawrence County community of Wren.
    • Iowa
      • Plymouth County
      • This Wren is located in Plymouth County and lies 997 miles [1,604.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Wren that is located in Charlotte County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Plymouth County community of Wren.
    • Mississippi
      • Monroe County
      • This Wren is located in Monroe County and lies 588 miles [946.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Wren that is located in Charlotte County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monroe County community of Wren.
    • Ohio
      • Van Wert County
      • This Wren is located in Van Wert County and lies 407 miles [655 km]<1> to the northwest of the Wren that is located in Charlotte County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Van Wert County community of Wren.
    • Oregon
      • Benton County
      • This Wren is located in Benton County and lies 2,354 miles [3,788.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Wren that is located in Charlotte County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Benton County community of Wren.
    • South Carolina
      • Berkeley 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 South Carolina community of Wren [Berkeley County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Wren ...

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.

  • Aspen
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Aspen is located in Charlotte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aspen
  • Chap
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Chap is located in Appomattox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chap
  • Fears Corner
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Fears Corner is located in Charlotte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fears Corner
  • Harrisburg
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Harrisburg is located in Charlotte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrisburg
  • Hat Creek
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Hat Creek is located in Campbell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hat Creek
  • Martins Store
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Martins Store is located in Halifax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martins Store
  • Patrick Henry
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Patrick Henry is located in Charlotte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patrick Henry
  • Rough Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Rough Creek is located in Charlotte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rough Creek
  • Spring Mills
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Spring Mills is located in Appomattox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Mills
  • Sugar Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Sugar Hill is located in Campbell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Hill
  • Terryville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Terryville is located in Charlotte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terryville

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

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

  • Charlotte Court House, which is the Seat of Charlotte County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Wren to Charlotte Court House, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 82 miles [132 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 157 miles [252.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,051 miles [9,738.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,753 miles [10,867.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,631 miles [7,452.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Wren) 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 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 Wren 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 Wren 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 Wren. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.1188, Longitude: -78.8497       In this case, the coordinates for Wren have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.037 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.475 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.108 degrees.