Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ashton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ashton and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Ashton
- 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 Ashton:
- 38.624251, -82.164589
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Ashton
- 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 Mason County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Mason County
- Since Ashton is near Gallia County and also Cabell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Gallia County
- 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Ashton ...
We found 29 communities that share the name Ashton.
Within West Virginia, the name Ashton is unique.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another 29 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 29 communities, 27 are located in the United States and four are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Ben Hill County
- This Ashton is located in Ben Hill County and lies 481 miles [774.1 km]<1> to the south of the Ashton that is located in Mason County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ben Hill County community of Ashton.
- Irwin 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 Ashton [Irwin County].
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kingman 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 Kansas community of Ashton [Kingman County].
- Sumner County
- This Ashton is located in Sumner County and lies 827 miles [1,330.9 km]<1> to the west of the Ashton that is located in Mason County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sumner County community of Ashton.
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Montgomery County
- This Ashton is located in Montgomery County and lies 279 miles [449 km]<1> to the east of the Ashton that is located in Mason County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Ashton.
- Washington County
- This Ashton is located in Washington County and lies 237 miles [381.4 km] to the east northeast of the Ashton that is located in Mason County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Ashton.
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Buchanan County
- This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Missouri community of Ashton [Buchanan County].
- Clark County
- This Ashton is located in Clark County and lies 528 miles [849.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Ashton that is located in Mason County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clark County community of Ashton.
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Ontario
- Prince Edward Island
- This Ashton lies 1,131 miles [1,820.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Ashton that is located in Mason County.
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ashton ...
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.
- Apple Grove
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apple Grove
- Apple Grove is located in Mason County
- Clover
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest) - Crown City
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crown City have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crown City
- Crown City is located in Cabell County
- Eureka
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north) - Holiday Hills
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holiday Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hills
- Holiday Hills is located in Gallia County (OH)
- Leaper
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest) - Pondlick
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast) - Raccoon Island
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Raccoon Island have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raccoon Island
- Raccoon Island is located in Gallia County (OH)
- Swan Creek
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Swan Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swan Creek
- Swan Creek is located in Gallia County (OH)
How Far From Ashton 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 Ashton to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Ashton and extending to:
- Point Pleasant, which is the Seat of Mason County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Ashton to Point Pleasant, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 34 miles [54.7 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take most of two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 276 miles [444.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,123 miles [9,854 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,839 miles [11,006.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,714 miles [7,586.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Ashton. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/
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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ashton) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ashton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.6243, Longitude: -82.1646 In this case, the coordinates for Ashton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Ashton 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> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Ashton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Ashton to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.981 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.918 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.007 degrees. |