Twelve O'clock Knob
Twelve O'clock Knob rises to 792 m in Virginia. Poor Mountain stands 1,141 m to the southwest, 5.1 miles off. The nearest named place is Mowles Spring Park, a park 1.4 miles away. Blue Ridge Parkway passes 4.6 miles off.
The story
Twelve O'clock Knob is a mountain located in southwestern Roanoke County, Virginia, directly south of Salem, Virginia. According to local lore, enslaved people in the western Roanoke Valley noted that the Sun was directly over the mountain roughly around noon local time. In 1995 and 1996, the Tour DuPont staged a time trial in the Roanoke Valley, the highlight of which was a ride over the steep, winding Twelve O'clock Knob Road. The north slope of the ridgeline formed by Poor Mountain, Twelve O'clock Knob and adjacent peaks such as Sugarloaf Mountain mark the southwestern boundary of the Roanoke Valley. This mountain should not be confused with Twelve O'Clock Knob in Patrick County, Virginia.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikidata Q7857633, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What the record says
- Elevation
- 792 m
How to reach it
- 4.6 mi off the Blue Ridge Parkway, National
- 26.7 mi off the Farm Heritage Road
Overlooks nearby
- Mill Mountain Overlook · 8 mi
- Mill Mountain Star Overlook · 8 mi
- Roanoke Mountain Loop Lookout · 9 mi
- Roanoke River Overlook · 12 mi
Named places within 25 miles
- Mowles Spring Park: 1.4 mi
- Salemm Dog Park: 2.2 mi
- Ted Webber Park: 2.7 mi
- Rotary Park: 2.9 mi
- Salem Rotary Dog Park: 3.0 mi
- Sugarloaf Mountain: 2.5 mi
- Lost Mountain: 3.7 mi
- Little Brushy Mountain: 4.0 mi
- Poor Mountain: 5.1 mi
- Hemppatch Mountain: 5.4 mi
- Eagle Crossing Memorial: 2.1 mi
- Via Field Memorial: 2.3 mi
- Destroyed Parking Lot as of 6/3/18: 4.0 mi
- Dan Wright Memorial: 5.3 mi
- Agatha Strother Lewis | Col. Elijah McClanahan: 6.5 mi
- Salem Museum: 3.8 mi
- Virginia Museum of Transportation: 7.7 mi
- Roanoke Pinball Museum: 8.1 mi
- Taubman Museum of Art: 8.2 mi
- Taubman Museum of Art: 8.2 mi
- The Solar Wind: 3.6 mi
- The Rock: 3.7 mi
- Merrill Gainer Statue: 5.7 mi
- Sculpture Garden: 6.7 mi
- Henrietta Lacks: 7.8 mi
- Happy Hollow Gardens Park: 1.8 mi
- Havens Wildlife Management Area: 6.4 mi
- Carvins Cove: 11.1 mi
- Read Mountain Preserve: 12.2 mi
- Sweet Springs State Natural Area Preserve: 12.3 mi
- Dixie Caverns: 5.1 mi
- Norfolk Southern 8661: 7.9 mi
- Jupiter Missile: 7.9 mi
- Roanoke Star: 8.4 mi
- Eastern Continental Divide: 15.1 mi
- Mountain View Community Garden: 6.7 mi
- George Washington Carver Community Garden: 7.7 mi
- Dr. Robert L. A. Keeley Healing Garden: 7.8 mi
- Community Garden: 10.7 mi
- Beale Garden: 10.8 mi
- Dragon's Tooth: 9.2 mi
- Tinker Cliffs: 13.9 mi
- Lovers Leap: 18.4 mi
- Cracker Point: 24.7 mi
- Bear Cliff: 24.8 mi
- Iranto Rest Area: 7.7 mi
- Troutville Safety Rest Area: 21.3 mi
- Virginia Rest Area Mile 158 South (I-81): 21.4 mi
- Bent Mountain Falls: 10.5 mi
- Camp Creek: 10.5 mi
- Spring Well #25: 16.5 mi
- Howrytown: 17.0 mi
- Smart View Recreation Area: 22.8 mi
Other summits around it
The highest named summits within 15.7 miles of Twelve O'clock Knob. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poor Mountain | SW 227° | 1,141 m | 5.1 mi |
| Sinking Creek Mountain | NNW 334° | 1,117 m | 14.5 mi |
| Chimney Rock | NNW 331° | 1,108 m | 14.6 mi |
| Earn Knob | NNW 338° | 1,097 m | 14.4 mi |
| Cahas Mountain | SSE 157° | 1,083 m | 9.8 mi |
| Fort Lewis Mountain | NW 315° | 998 m | 5.9 mi |
| Bent Mountain | S 189° | 975 m | 7.0 mi |
| McAfee Knob | NNE 15° | 974 m | 10.3 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 07:25 | 18:58 | 19:32 |
| June solstice | 06:01 | 20:06 | 20:45 |
| September equinox | 07:09 | 18:45 | 19:19 |
| December solstice | 07:31 | 16:26 | 17:07 |
Local time (America/New_York).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: Apr–Oct.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 38 | 41 | 48 | 58 | 66 | 74 | 78 | 76 | 70 | 59 | 48 | 41 |
| Precip in | 3.2 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.3 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.1 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Roanoke-blacksburg Rgnl AP, 8 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikidata- USGS Geographic Names Information System feature 1493726 — Twelve O'clock Knob, Roanoke County, Virginia.
OpenStreetMap element node/356582163
Day trips start here
- Roanoke · 8 mi
Take the scenic way to Twelve O'clock Knob.
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