Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Blake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blake and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Blake
- 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 Blake:
- 37.302897, -81.068700
- 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 Blake
- 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 Mercer County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Mercer County
- Since Blake is near Bland County and also Giles County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Bland County
- eBird sighting report for Giles 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 Blake ...
We found fifteen communities that share the name Blake.
There is one other community in West Virginia which is also named Blake.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another fourteen communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these fourteen communities, thirteen are located in the United States and two are in Canada.
- Communities Located In West Virginia ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- DeKalb County
- This Blake is located in DeKalb County and lies 325 miles [523 km]<2> to the southwest of the Blake that is located in Mercer County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the DeKalb County community of Blake.
- Randolph County
- This Blake is located in Randolph County and lies 382 miles [614.8 km] to the southwest of the Blake that is located in Mercer County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Randolph County community of Blake.
- British Columbia
- Florida
- Idaho
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Missouri
- Ohio
- Ontario
- This Blake lies 425 miles [684 km]<2> to the north of the Blake that is located in Mercer County.
- South Carolina
- Utah
- Alabama
Curious and Interesting Names Near Blake ...
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.
- Billie ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest) - Edison
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edison
- Edison is located in Mercer County
- First Ford
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for First Ford have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for First Ford
- First Ford is located in Giles County (VA)
- Green Valley
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
- Green Valley is located in Mercer County
- Hardy
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east) - Hatcher
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast) - Lilly Grove
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lilly Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lilly Grove
- Lilly Grove is located in Mercer County
- Maple View
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maple View have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple View
- Maple View is located in Mercer County
- Oak Grove
(5 miles [8 km] to the north) - Pumpkin Center
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pumpkin Center have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumpkin Center
- Pumpkin Center is located in Bland County (VA)
- Rocky Gap
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Gap
- Rocky Gap is located in Bland County (VA)
- Round Bottom
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Bottom
- Round Bottom is located in Bland County (VA)
How Far From Blake 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 Blake to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Blake once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Blake and extending to:
- Princeton, which is the Seat of Mercer County, lies just to the North Northwest.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 78 miles [125.5 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Blake to Charleston, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 245 miles [394.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,137 miles [9,876.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,845 miles [11,016 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,721 miles [7,597.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/
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 Blake 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 '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- Blake) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Blake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3029, Longitude: -81.0687 In this case, the coordinates for Blake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Blake, 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> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Blake to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.34 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.992 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.958 degrees. |