Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Rider, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rider and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Rider
- 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 Rider:
- 39.172592, -80.370645
- 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 Rider
- 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 Harrison County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Harrison County
- Since Rider is near Lewis County and also Barbour County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Lewis County
- eBird sighting report for Barbour 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 Rider ...
We found five communities that share the name Rider.
Within West Virginia, the name Rider is unique.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, four are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- British Columbia
- This Rider lies 2,117 miles [3,407 km]<1> to the northwest of the Rider that is located in Harrison County.
- Iowa
- Maryland
- Nevada
- North Dakota
- British Columbia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Rider ...
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.
- Chestnut Hills
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chestnut Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Hills
- Chestnut Hills is located in Harrison County
- Goodhope
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west) - Homeland
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south) - Jane Lew
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jane Lew
- Jane Lew is located in Lewis County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 388 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Jane Lew <5>
- Johnstown
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast) - Lightburn
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Lost Creek
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lost Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost Creek
- Lost Creek is located in Harrison County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 462 people
- Nutter Fort
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nutter Fort have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nutter Fort
- Nutter Fort is located in Harrison County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,501 people
- Quiet Dell
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quiet Dell
- Quiet Dell is located in Harrison County
- Romines Mills
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Romines Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Romines Mills
- Romines Mills is located in Harrison County
- Sheets Mills
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sheets Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sheets Mills
- Sheets Mills is located in Harrison County
- South Park
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Park
- South Park is located in Lewis County
How Far From Rider 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 Rider to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Rider and extending to:
- Clarksburg, which is the Seat of Harrison County, lies just to the North.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 88 miles [141.6 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Rider to Charleston, with an average speed<6>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 179 miles [288.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 11 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,025 miles [9,696.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,739 miles [10,845.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,614 miles [7,425.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Rider. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Harrison County: www.harrisoncountywv.com/
The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/
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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Rider) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rider. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.1726, Longitude: -80.3706 In this case, the coordinates for Rider have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Rider 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> | 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 Rider, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Rider to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.872 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.735 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.041 degrees. |