RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Ohio >> Miami County >> West Charleston >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Charleston, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Charleston 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 Charleston:
    • 39.923113, -84.133551
    • 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 Charleston
  • 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 Miami County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Miami County
    • Since West Charleston is near Montgomery County and also Clark County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clark 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 Charleston

Communities Also Named West Charleston ...

We found three communities that are also named West Charleston.

Within Ohio, the name West Charleston is unique.

Beyond Ohio, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maine
      • Penobscot County
      • This West Charleston is located in Penobscot County and lies 843 miles [1,356.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the West Charleston that is located in Miami County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Penobscot County community of West Charleston.
    • Vermont
      • Orleans County
      • This West Charleston is located in Orleans County and lies 703 miles [1,131.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the West Charleston that is located in Miami County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Orleans County community of West Charleston.
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha 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 West Virginia community of West Charleston [Kanawha County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Charleston ...

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.

  • Brown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Brown is located in Miami County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brown
  • Crystal Lakes
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Crystal Lakes is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lakes
  • Frederick
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Frederick is located in Miami County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frederick
  • Ginghamsburg
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Ginghamsburg is located in Miami County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ginghamsburg
  • Haven View
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Haven View is located in Miami County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haven View
  • Hooks Corner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Hooks Corner is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooks Corner
  • Little York
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Little York is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little York
  • Spanker
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Spanker is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spanker
  • Sulphur Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Sulphur Grove is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sulphur Grove
  • Willowick
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Willowick is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willowick

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

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

  • Troy, which is the Seat of Miami County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from West Charleston to Troy, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 60 miles [96.6 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 385 miles [619.6 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,142 miles [9,884.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,867 miles [11,051.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,744 miles [7,634.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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 Charleston) 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 West Charleston 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 West Charleston 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 Charleston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.9231, Longitude: -84.1336       In this case, the coordinates for West Charleston have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.186 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.484 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.482 degrees.