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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Bentons Ferry, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bentons Ferry 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 Bentons Ferry:
    • 39.437864, -80.167580
    • 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 Bentons Ferry
  • 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 Marion County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marion County
    • Since Bentons Ferry is near Harrison County and also Taylor County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harrison County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Taylor 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 Bentons Ferry

Communities Also Named Bentons Ferry ...

We found two communities that are also named Bentons Ferry.

Within West Virginia, the name Bentons Ferry is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Louisiana
      • East Baton Rouge Parish
      • This Bentons Ferry is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and lies 869 miles [1,398.5 km]<1> to the southwest of the Bentons Ferry that is located in Marion County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the East Baton Rouge Parish community of Bentons Ferry.
      • Livingston Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Bentons Ferry [Livingston Parish].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Bentons Ferry ...

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.

  • Barrackville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Barrackville is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barrackville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,270 people
  • Boothsville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Boothsville is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boothsville
  • Dakota
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Dakota is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dakota
  • Enterprise
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Enterprise is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enterprise
  • Francis
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Francis is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Francis
  • Garden Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Garden Village is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Village
  • Graham Heights
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Graham Heights is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham Heights
  • Helens Run
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Helens Run is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helens Run
  • Highland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Highland is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
  • Hillcrest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Hillcrest is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
  • Hillview
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Hillview is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillview
  • Hopewell
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Hopewell is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Katy
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Katy is located in Marion County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Katy
    • Killarm
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Killarm is located in Marion County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Killarm
    • Meadowdale
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Meadowdale is located in Marion County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowdale
    • New England
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • New England is located in Marion County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New England
    • Pettyjohn ‑ Historic
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Pettyjohn is located in Marion County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pettyjohn
    • Shagtown
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Shagtown is located in Marion County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shagtown
    • Wahoo
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Wahoo is located in Marion County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wahoo

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

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

  • Fairmont, which is the Seat of Marion County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 108 miles [173.8 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Bentons Ferry to Charleston, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 171 miles [275.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,005 miles [9,664.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,719 miles [10,813.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,595 miles [7,394.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Bentons Ferry) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Bentons Ferry 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 Bentons Ferry 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 Bentons Ferry. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.4379, Longitude: -80.1676       In this case, the coordinates for Bentons Ferry have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.738 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.623 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.86 degrees.