Welcome to Alaska ...
Although we found mention of Alaska during our research, we have little information about it.<1> Given the context of how Alaska was mentioned, we believe that it was a community rather than some type of landmark. We have done a cursory search and if it's a community, we haven't been able to find any evidence that it still exists..
While we are confident that Alaska was located in Mineral County, we don't know its actual location within the county.
We've added Alaska to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. We would especially like to find the location of Alaska - knowing its coordinates, we can explore things like its relationship to neighboring communities, nearby cemeteries, etc. If you can help us with Alaska, please Contact Us.
When the people of Alaska refer to themselves (known as a demonym), they frequently use Alaskan<2>
Time Zone: The area where we believe that Alaska might be (or was) located is in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time
We believe that Alaska would be found within the (304) & (681)<3> area codes.
Communities Also Named Alaska ...
Using our Gazetteer, we have found that there are two West Virginia communities named Alaska: This one is located in Mineral County and the other is located in Fayette County.
Beyond West Virginia, there are 10 communities that are also named Alaska - they are located in Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania (2), Prince Edward Island and Wisconsin (2).
For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Alaska.
Other Roadside Stops ...
Communities in West Virginia
About Mineral County
About West Virginia
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Mineral County: www.mineralcountywv.com/
The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer. For example, we might find a sentence like "He went south past Alaska and then turned east". While Alaska could be some kind of landmark, we think that it's more likely to be a community. We've added Alaska as a placeholder with the hope that we'll be able to add more information in the future.
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 Miller Creek to see Pete ... Miller 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 Alaska 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.- Return to Citation |
| <2> | A demonym is the name for a resident of a community which is usually derived from (or is related to) the name of that community. In other words, it's how the residents of Alaska refer to themselves. It's important to note that there aren't any rules for taking a community's name and turning it into a demonym. A demonym is informal and while the majority of Alaska may use one name, keep in mind that others may use something different. - Return to Citation |
| <3> | Area code (681) is an overlay for area code (304). - Return to Citation |
