Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Chemical, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Chemical and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Chemical
- 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 Chemical:
- 38.759826, -80.235079
- 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 Chemical
- 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 Upshur County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Upshur County
- Since Chemical is near Randolph County and also Webster County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Randolph County
- eBird sighting report for Webster 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 Chemical ...
We found three communities that share the name Chemical.
Within West Virginia, the name Chemical is unique.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another three communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Florida
- Illinois
- Pennsylvania
Curious and Interesting Names Near Chemical ...
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.
- Carter
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest) - Czar
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast) - Eden
(5 miles [8 km] to the west) - Evergreen
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north) - Hemlock
(5 miles [8 km] to the east) - Holly Grove
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holly Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Grove
- Holly Grove is located in Upshur County
- Imperial
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north) - Palace Valley
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Palace Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palace Valley
- Palace Valley is located in Upshur County
- Pickens
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickens
- Pickens is located in Randolph County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pickens <3>
- Rock Cave
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Cave
- Rock Cave is located in Upshur County
- Silica
(5 miles [8 km] to the south) - Zion
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
How Far From Chemical 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 Chemical 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<4> community of Chemical once stood, the straight-line distance<5> beginning in Chemical and extending to:
- Buckhannon, which is the Seat of Upshur County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<5> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Chemical to Buckhannon, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 80 miles [128.7 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 172 miles [276.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,037 miles [9,715.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,750 miles [10,863.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,625 miles [7,443.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
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 Chemical 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> | 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. |
| <3> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | 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 Chemical, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <5> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Chemical) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Chemical. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.7598, Longitude: -80.2351 In this case, the coordinates for Chemical have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Chemical to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.804 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.597 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.125 degrees. |