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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Big Stick, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Big Stick 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 Big Stick:
    • 37.694559, -81.253713
    • 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 Big Stick
  • 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 Raleigh County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Raleigh County
    • Since Big Stick is near Wyoming County and also Mercer County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wyoming County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mercer 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 Big Stick

Curious and Interesting Names Near Big Stick ...

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.

  • Affinity
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Affinity is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Affinity
  • Cedar
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar
  • Coal City
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Coal City is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal City
  • Crab Orchard
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Glen View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Glen View is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen View
  • Glen White
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Glen White is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen White
  • Hoohoo
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Hoohoo is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoohoo
  • Jenny Gap ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jenny Gap is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenny Gap
  • Jonben
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Jonben is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonben
  • Lego
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Lego is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lego
  • Lester
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Lester is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lester
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 312 people
  • Lillybrook
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Lillybrook is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lillybrook
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Mead
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Mead is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mead
    • Princewick
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Princewick is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Princewick
    • Slab Fork
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Slab Fork is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slab Fork
    • Spangler Factory ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Spangler Factory is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spangler Factory
    • Winding Gulf
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Winding Gulf is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winding Gulf
    • Woodpeck
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Woodpeck is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodpeck

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Big Stick and extending to:

  • Beckley, which is the Seat of Raleigh County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 49 miles [78.9 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from Big Stick to Charleston, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 243 miles [391.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,127 miles [9,860.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,837 miles [11,003.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,713 miles [7,584.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Big Stick) 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 Big Stick 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 Big Stick. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.6946, Longitude: -81.2537       In this case, the coordinates for Big Stick have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.444 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.169 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.912 degrees.