RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Missouri >> Howell County >> West Plains >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Plains, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Plains 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 Plains:
    • 36.732166, -91.857208
    • 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 Plains
  • 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 Howell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Howell County
    • Since West Plains is near Oregon County and also Douglas County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Oregon County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Douglas 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 Plains

Communities Also Named West Plains ...

We found two communities that are also named West Plains.

Within Missouri, the name West Plains is unique.

Beyond Missouri, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Seward 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 Kansas community of West Plains [Seward County].
    • Michigan
      • Muskegon 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 Michigan community of West Plains [Muskegon County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Plains ...

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.

  • Brandsville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Brandsville is located in Howell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brandsville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 153 people
  • Carson ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Carson is located in Howell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carson
  • China
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • China is located in Howell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for China
  • Cureall
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Cureall is located in Howell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cureall
  • Egypt Grove
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Egypt Grove is located in Howell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Egypt Grove
  • Frankville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Frankville is located in Howell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frankville
  • Fruitville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Fruitville is located in Howell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fruitville
  • Globe
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Globe is located in Howell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Globe
  • Homeland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Homeland is located in Howell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homeland
  • Hunter Crossing
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Hunter Crossing is located in Oregon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter Crossing
  • Peace Valley
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Peace Valley is located in Howell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peace Valley
  • Pottersville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Pottersville is located in Howell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pottersville

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in West Plains and extending to:

  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 128 miles [206 km]<2> to the north (N). If you could drive a straight line from West Plains to Jefferson City, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 821 miles [1,321.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 47 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,594 miles [10,612 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,327 miles [11,791.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,206 miles [8,378.2 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 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 West Plains 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' (or 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- West Plains) 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 Plains 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 Plains. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.7322, Longitude: -91.8572    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.06 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.639 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.82 degrees.