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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Beech Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Beech Hill 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 Beech Hill:
    • 38.764805, -82.002639
    • 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 Beech Hill
  • 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:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mason County
    • Since Beech Hill is near Putnam County and also Gallia County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Putnam County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gallia 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 Beech Hill

Communities Also Named Beech Hill ...

We found nine communities that are also named Beech Hill.

Within West Virginia, the name Beech Hill is unique.

Beyond West Virginia, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these nine communities, seven are located in the United States and five are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • New Castle County
      • This Beech Hill is located in New Castle County and lies 342 miles [550.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Beech Hill that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Castle County community of Beech Hill.
    • Georgia
      • Wilkinson County
      • This Beech Hill is located in Wilkinson County and lies 414 miles [666.3 km]<1> to the south of the Beech Hill that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wilkinson County community of Beech Hill.
    • New Brunswick
      • This Beech Hill lies 1,006 miles [1,619 km]<1> to the northeast of the Beech Hill that is located in Mason County.
    • New York
      • Westchester County
      • This Beech Hill is located in Westchester County and lies 459 miles [738.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Beech Hill that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Westchester County community of Beech Hill.
    • Nova Scotia
      • 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 Nova Scotia community of Beech Hill.
    • Tennessee
      • Franklin County
      • This Beech Hill is located in Franklin County and lies 340 miles [547.2 km]<1> to the southwest of the Beech Hill that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Beech Hill.
      • Giles County
      • This Beech Hill is located in Giles County and lies 363 miles [584.2 km] to the southwest of the Beech Hill that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Giles County community of Beech Hill.
      • Jackson 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 Tennessee community of Beech Hill [Jackson County].
      • Macon County
      • This Beech Hill is located in Macon County and lies 274 miles [441 km] to the west southwest of the Beech Hill that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Macon County community of Beech Hill.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Beech Hill ...

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.

  • Ash
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Ash is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ash
  • Chestnut
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Chestnut is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut
  • Couch
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Couch is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Couch
  • Fivemile
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Fivemile is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fivemile
  • Flatrock
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Flatrock is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatrock
  • Gunville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Gunville is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gunville
  • Leon
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Leon is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leon
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 145 people
  • Pondlick
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Pondlick is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pondlick
  • Robertsburg
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Robertsburg is located in Putnam County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robertsburg

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

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

  • Point Pleasant, which is the Seat of Mason County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Beech Hill to Point Pleasant, with an average speed<4> 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 35 miles [56.3 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 267 miles [429.7 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,110 miles [9,833.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,826 miles [10,985.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,701 miles [7,565.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Beech Hill) 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 Beech Hill 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 Beech Hill, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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.
<5>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 Beech Hill 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 Beech Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.7648, Longitude: -82.0026       In this case, the coordinates for Beech Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.879 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.823 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.891 degrees.