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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Cotton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cotton and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Cotton:
    • 38.544818, -81.349842
    • 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 Cotton
  • 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 Roane County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Roane County
    • Since Cotton is near Kanawha County and also Clay County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kanawha County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clay 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 Cotton

Communities Also Named Cotton ...

We found eight communities that are also named Cotton.

Within West Virginia, the name Cotton is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Elmore County
      • This Cotton is located in Elmore County and lies 482 miles [775.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Cotton that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Elmore County community of Cotton.
    • Georgia
      • Mitchell County
      • This Cotton is located in Mitchell County and lies 532 miles [856.2 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Cotton that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mitchell County community of Cotton.
    • Idaho
      • Bonneville County
      • This Cotton is located in Bonneville County and lies 1,627 miles [2,618.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Cotton that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bonneville County community of Cotton.
    • Michigan
      • Kalkaska County
      • This Cotton is located in Kalkaska County and lies 465 miles [748.3 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Cotton that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kalkaska County community of Cotton.
    • Minnesota
      • Saint Louis County
      • This Cotton is located in Saint Louis County and lies 818 miles [1,316.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Cotton that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis County community of Cotton.
    • South Carolina
      • York County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Cotton [York County].
    • Texas
      • Fannin County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Cotton [Fannin County].
      • Grimes County
      • This Cotton is located in Grimes County and lies 980 miles [1,577.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Cotton that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grimes County community of Cotton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Cotton ...

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.

  • Falling Rock
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Falling Rock is located in Kanawha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falling Rock
  • Frame
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Frame is located in Kanawha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frame
  • Harley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Harley is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harley
  • Heatherman ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Heatherman is located in Kanawha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heatherman
  • Kelly Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Kelly Hill is located in Kanawha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kelly Hill
  • Kettle
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Kettle is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kettle
  • King
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • King is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for King
  • Mattie ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Mattie is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mattie
  • Mount Hope
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Hope is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
  • Mount Welcome
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Welcome is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Welcome
  • Pad ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Pad is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pad
  • Pigeon
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Pigeon is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pigeon
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Queen Shoals
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Queen Shoals is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queen Shoals
    • Reamer
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Reamer is located in Kanawha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reamer
    • Shad ‑ Historic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Shad is located in Roane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shad
    • Youngs Bottom
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Youngs Bottom is located in Kanawha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Youngs Bottom

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

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

  • Spencer, which is the Seat of Roane County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Cotton to Spencer, with an average speed<4> 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 20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest (SW). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 233 miles [375 km] to the east (E). 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,093 miles [9,805.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,807 miles [10,954.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,682 miles [7,534.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Cotton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Cotton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Cotton 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.
<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 Cotton 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 Cotton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5448, Longitude: -81.3498       In this case, the coordinates for Cotton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.486 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.341 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.678 degrees.