RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kentucky >> Allen County >> West Fork >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in West Fork, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Fork and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 West Fork:
    • 36.782820, -86.280545
    • 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.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on West Fork
  • 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 Allen County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allen County
    • Since West Fork is near Warren County and also Simpson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Warren County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Simpson 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:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for West Fork

Communities Also Named West Fork ...

We found twelve communities that are also named West Fork.

There is one other community in Kentucky that is also named West Fork.

Beyond Kentucky, we know of eleven communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Kentucky ...
    • Christian 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 Kentucky community of West Fork [Christian County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Washington County
      • This West Fork is located in Washington County and lies 443 miles [712.9 km]<2> to the west of the West Fork that is located in Allen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of West Fork.
    • Delaware
      • Sussex 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 Delaware community of West Fork [Sussex County].
    • Indiana
      • Crawford County
      • This West Fork is located in Crawford County and lies 101 miles [162.5 km]<2> to the north of the West Fork that is located in Allen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Crawford County community of West Fork.
    • Missouri
      • Reynolds County
      • This West Fork is located in Reynolds County and lies 270 miles [434.5 km]<2> to the west northwest of the West Fork that is located in Allen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Reynolds County community of West Fork.
    • Montana
      • Daniels County
      • This West Fork is located in Daniels County and lies 1,284 miles [2,066.4 km]<2> to the northwest of the West Fork that is located in Allen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Daniels County community of West Fork.
    • Oregon
      • Douglas 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 Oregon community of West Fork [Douglas County].
    • South Dakota
      • Haakon County
      • This West Fork is located in Haakon County and lies 956 miles [1,538.5 km]<2> to the northwest of the West Fork that is located in Allen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Haakon County community of West Fork.
    • Tennessee
      • Overton 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 Tennessee community of West Fork [Overton County].
    • Virginia
      • Pittsylvania County
      • This West Fork is located in Pittsylvania County and lies 368 miles [592.2 km]<2> to the east of the West Fork that is located in Allen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pittsylvania County community of West Fork.
    • Washington
      • Ferry County
      • This West Fork is located in Ferry County and lies 1,817 miles [2,924.2 km]<2> to the northwest of the West Fork that is located in Allen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ferry County community of West Fork.
    • West Virginia
      • Mercer 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 West Virginia community of West Fork [Mercer County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Fork ...

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.

  • Butlersville
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Butlersville is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butlersville
  • Chapel Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
  • Clare
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Clare is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clare
  • Claypool
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Claypool is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claypool
  • Fleet
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Fleet is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fleet
  • Gold City
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Gold City is located in Simpson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold City
  • Green Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Green Hill is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Hill
  • Halfway
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Halfway is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halfway
  • Motley
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Motley is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Motley
  • Petroleum
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Petroleum is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Petroleum
  • Pope
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Pope is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pope
  • Red Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Red Hill is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Hill
  • Temperance
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Temperance is located in Simpson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temperance

How Far From West Fork 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 West Fork to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in West Fork and extending to:

  • Scottsville, which is the Seat of Allen County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 124 miles [199.6 km]<2> to the northeast (NE). If you could drive a straight line from West Fork to Frankfort, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 524 miles [843.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 21 days and walking would take 30 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,375 miles [10,259.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,094 miles [11,416.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,970 miles [7,998.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 West Fork 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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- West Fork) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 West Fork to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in West Fork. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.7828, Longitude: -86.2805       In this case, the coordinates for West Fork have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.506 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.546 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.321 degrees.