RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Ohio >> Lawrence County >> Cranford >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Cranford, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cranford 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 Cranford:
    • 38.443973, -82.353484
    • 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 Cranford
  • 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 Lawrence County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence County
    • Since Cranford is near Cabell County and also Wayne County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cabell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wayne 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 Cranford

Communities Also Named Cranford ...

We found four communities that are also named Cranford.

Within Ohio, the name Cranford is unique.

Beyond Ohio, we know of four communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, three are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alberta
      • This Cranford lies 1,665 miles [2,679.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Cranford that is located in Lawrence County.
    • Georgia
      • Grady County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Cranford [Grady County].
    • New Jersey
      • Union County
      • This Cranford is located in Union County and lies 455 miles [732.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Cranford that is located in Lawrence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Union County community of Cranford.
    • New York
      • Bronx County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New York community of Cranford [Bronx County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Cranford ...

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.

  • Chancellor Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Chancellor Hills is located in Cabell County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chancellor Hills
  • Fair Place
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Fair Place is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Place
  • Garden Farms
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Garden Farms is located in Cabell County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Farms
  • Hillview
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Hillview is located in Cabell County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillview
  • Home Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Home Park is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Home Park
  • Lock
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Lock is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lock
  • Pea Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Pea Ridge is located in Cabell County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pea Ridge
  • Riverview
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Riverview is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
  • Rockwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Rockwood is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockwood
  • Timberlake
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Timberlake is located in Cabell County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timberlake

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

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

  • Ironton, which is the Seat of Lawrence County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Cranford to Ironton, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 111 miles [178.6 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 288 miles [463.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,139 miles [9,879.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,855 miles [11,032.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,730 miles [7,612.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Cranford) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 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 Cranford 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>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 Cranford 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 Cranford. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.4440, Longitude: -82.3535       In this case, the coordinates for Cranford have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.099 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.027 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.146 degrees.