As the crow flies it is approx. 420 miles from the tip of Lee county to Va. Beach. Also as the crow flies it is approx. 200 miles from tip of Lee county to Roanoke . so technically Roanoke is barley west of the center of Va. and quite a bit north of both of those locations.By true definition Roanoke is in the central part of the state. It is like calling Chicago "mid west" do the math it is in the eastern one half of the U.S. yet everyone considers it mid- west but it is diffidently not. Most people think the state ends at Roanoke but again it does not.