Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Federal, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Federal and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Federal
- 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 Federal:
- 39.392577, -81.086778
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Federal
- 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 Pleasants County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Pleasants County
- Since Federal is near Washington County and also Tyler County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Washington County
- eBird sighting report for Tyler 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Federal ...
We found eighteen communities that share the name Federal.
There is one other community in West Virginia which is also named Federal.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another seventeen communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these seventeen communities, seventeen are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Located In West Virginia ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alaska
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Greene 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 Missouri community of Federal [Greene County].
- Saint Francois County
- This Federal is located in Saint Francois County and lies 519 miles [835.2 km]<2> to the west of the Federal that is located in Pleasants County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Francois County community of Federal.
- Ohio
- Ontario
- This Federal lies 493 miles [793.4 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Federal that is located in Pleasants County.
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Washington
- Wyoming
Curious and Interesting Names Near Federal ...
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.
- Algeria ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast) - Cloverdale
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cloverdale have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
- Cloverdale is located in Pleasants County
- Crisp ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest) - Fern
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south) - Hebron
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hebron
- Hebron is located in Pleasants County
- Maxwell
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest) - Meadville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadville
- Meadville is located in Tyler County
- Plum Run
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum Run
- Plum Run is located in Tyler County
- Point Lookout
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Point Lookout have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Lookout
- Point Lookout is located in Pleasants County
- Raven Rock
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Raven Rock have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raven Rock
- Raven Rock is located in Pleasants County
- Sugar Valley
(Less than 2 miles to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sugar Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Valley
- Sugar Valley is located in Pleasants County
- Twiggs
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east) - Union Mills
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Union Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Mills
- Union Mills is located in Pleasants County
- Wasp
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
How Far From Federal to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Federal to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of Federal once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Federal and extending to:
- Saint Marys, which is the Seat of Pleasants County, lies just to the West.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 77 miles [123.9 km]<2> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Federal to Charleston, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 219 miles [352.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,044 miles [9,726.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,761 miles [10,880.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,636 miles [7,460.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/
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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek 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 Federal 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> | 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- Federal) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Federal. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.3926, Longitude: -81.0868 In this case, the coordinates for Federal have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | 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 Federal, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Federal to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.301 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.257 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.281 degrees. |