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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Dobbston, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dobbston 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 Dobbston:
    • 38.553693, -82.425987
    • 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 Dobbston
  • 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 Dobbston is near Gallia County and also Cabell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gallia County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cabell 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 Dobbston

Communities Also Named Dobbston ...

We found one communities that are also named Dobbston.

Within Ohio, the name Dobbston is unique.

Beyond Ohio, there is another community also named Dobbston in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Wisconsin
      • Langlade 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 Wisconsin community of Dobbston [Langlade County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dobbston ...

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.

  • Bald Knob
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Bald Knob is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bald Knob
  • Cebee
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Cebee is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cebee
  • Cherryville ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Cherryville is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherryville
  • Getaway
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Getaway is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Getaway
  • Good Hope
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Good Hope is located in Gallia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Hope
  • Greasy Ridge
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Greasy Ridge is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greasy Ridge
  • Ida ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Ida is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ida
  • Platform
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Platform is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Platform
  • Polkadotte
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Polkadotte is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polkadotte
  • Rock Camp
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Rock Camp is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Camp
  • Suiter
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Suiter is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Suiter
  • Willow Wood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Willow Wood is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Wood

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

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

  • Ironton, which is the Seat of Lawrence County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Dobbston to Ironton, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 102 miles [164.2 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 291 miles [468.3 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 6,136 miles [9,874.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,853 miles [11,028.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,728 miles [7,609 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 Dobbston 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 '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- Dobbston) 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 Dobbston 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 Dobbston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5537, Longitude: -82.4260       In this case, the coordinates for Dobbston have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.142 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.092 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.143 degrees.