RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of West Virginia >> McDowell County >> Bartley >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Bartley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bartley and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Bartley:
    • 37.340668, -81.737610
    • 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 Bartley
  • 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 McDowell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McDowell County
    • Since Bartley is near Buchanan County and also Tazewell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Buchanan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tazewell 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 Bartley

Communities Also Named Bartley ...

We found five communities that are also named Bartley.

There is one other community in West Virginia that is also named Bartley.

Beyond West Virginia, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In West Virginia ...
    • Wyoming 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 West Virginia community of Bartley [Wyoming County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Gallatin 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 Illinois community of Bartley [Gallatin County].
    • Indiana
      • Vigo 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 Indiana community of Bartley [Vigo County].
    • Nebraska
      • Red Willow County
      • This Bartley is located in Red Willow County and lies 1,017 miles [1,636.7 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Bartley that is located in McDowell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Red Willow County community of Bartley.
    • New Jersey
      • Morris County
      • This Bartley is located in Morris County and lies 446 miles [717.8 km]<2> to the northeast of the Bartley that is located in McDowell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morris County community of Bartley.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Bartley ...

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.

  • Beartown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Beartown is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beartown
  • Bearwallow
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Bearwallow is located in Buchanan County (VA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bearwallow
  • Dan
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Dan is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dan
  • English
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • English is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for English
  • Height
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Height is located in Buchanan County (VA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Height
  • Peapatch
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Peapatch is located in Buchanan County (VA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peapatch
  • Rift
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Rift is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rift
  • Rockridge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Rockridge is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockridge
  • Warriormine
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Warriormine is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warriormine

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

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

  • Welch, which is the Seat of McDowell County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Bartley to Welch, 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.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 69 miles [111 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 277 miles [445.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,163 miles [9,918.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,873 miles [11,061 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,749 miles [7,642.8 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 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 Bartley 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 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Bartley) 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 Bartley 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 Bartley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3407, Longitude: -81.7376       In this case, the coordinates for Bartley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.74 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.454 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.226 degrees.