Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Sophia, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sophia and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Sophia
- 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 Sophia:
- 37.706089, -81.253594
- 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 Sophia
- 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 Raleigh County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Raleigh County
- Since Sophia is near Wyoming County and also Mercer County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Wyoming County
- eBird sighting report for Mercer 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 Sophia ...
We found five communities that share the name Sophia.
Within West Virginia, the name Sophia is unique.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Georgia
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
Curious and Interesting Names Near Sophia ...
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.
- Affinity
(Less than 2 miles to the east) - Big Stick
(Less than 2 miles to the south) - Cedar
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast) - Coal City
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast) - Crab Orchard
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crab Orchard have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crab Orchard
- Crab Orchard is located in Raleigh County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crab Orchard <5>
- Glen View
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north) - Glen White
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen White
- Glen White is located in Raleigh County
- Glen White Junction ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Glen White Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen White Junction
- Glen White Junction is located in Raleigh County
- Hoohoo
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest) - Jenny Gap ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west) - Jonben
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast) - Lester
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest) - Continue List (6 more) ...
- Lillybrook
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lillybrook have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lillybrook
- Lillybrook is located in Raleigh County
- Princewick
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Princewick
- Princewick is located in Raleigh County
- Slab Fork
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slab Fork
- Slab Fork is located in Raleigh County
- Spangler Factory ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spangler Factory have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spangler Factory
- Spangler Factory is located in Raleigh County
- Winding Gulf
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Winding Gulf have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winding Gulf
- Winding Gulf is located in Raleigh County
- Woodpeck
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Lillybrook
How Far From Sophia to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a town such as Sophia to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Sophia and extending to:
- Beckley, which is the Seat of Raleigh County, lies just to the Northeast.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 48 miles [77.2 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from Sophia to Charleston, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 242 miles [389.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,127 miles [9,860.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,837 miles [11,003.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,713 miles [7,584.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Sophia. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Sophia, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Sophia) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sophia. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.7061, Longitude: -81.2536 In this case, the coordinates for Sophia have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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 Sophia 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. |
| <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 Sophia 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 310.444 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.17 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.908 degrees. |