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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Crab Orchard, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Crab Orchard 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 Crab Orchard:
    • 37.740670, -81.230656
    • 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 Crab Orchard
  • 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 Crab Orchard is near Wyoming County and also Fayette 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 Fayette 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 Crab Orchard

Communities Also Named Crab Orchard ...

We found eight communities that are also named Crab Orchard.

Within West Virginia, the name Crab Orchard is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Williamson County
      • This Crab Orchard is located in Williamson County and lies 413 miles [664.7 km]<1> to the west of the Crab Orchard that is located in Raleigh County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Williamson County community of Crab Orchard.
    • Kentucky
      • Lincoln County
      • This Crab Orchard is located in Lincoln County and lies 180 miles [289.7 km]<1> to the west of the Crab Orchard that is located in Raleigh County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lincoln County community of Crab Orchard.
    • Missouri
      • Ray County
      • 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 Missouri community of Crab Orchard [Ray County].
    • Nebraska
      • Johnson County
      • This Crab Orchard is located in Johnson County and lies 833 miles [1,340.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Crab Orchard that is located in Raleigh County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Johnson County community of Crab Orchard.
    • Tennessee
      • Carter County
      • 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 Tennessee community of Crab Orchard [Carter County].
      • Cumberland County
      • This Crab Orchard is located in Cumberland County and lies 238 miles [383 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Crab Orchard that is located in Raleigh County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cumberland County community of Crab Orchard.
    • Virginia
      • Lee County
      • 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 Virginia community of Crab Orchard [Lee County].
      • Wise County
      • This Crab Orchard is located in Wise County and lies 86 miles [138.4 km]<1> to the southwest of the Crab Orchard that is located in Raleigh County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wise County community of Crab Orchard.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Crab Orchard ...

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 south)
    • Affinity is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Affinity
  • Beaver
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Big Stick
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Big Stick is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Stick
  • Cedar
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Cedar is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar
  • Coal City
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Coal City is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal City
  • Glen View
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Glen View is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen View
  • Glen White
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Glen White is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen White
  • Glen White Junction ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Glen White Junction is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen White Junction
  • Harper
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Harper Heights
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Harper Heights is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harper Heights
  • Hoohoo
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Hoohoo is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoohoo
  • Johnstown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Johnstown is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnstown
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Lester
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Lester is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lester
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 312 people
    • Spangler Factory ‑ Historic
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Spangler Factory is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spangler Factory
    • Winding Gulf
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Winding Gulf is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winding Gulf
    • Woodpeck
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Woodpeck is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodpeck

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

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

  • Beckley, which is the Seat of Raleigh County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 47 miles [75.6 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from Crab Orchard to Charleston, with an average speed<4> 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 240 miles [386.2 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,124 miles [9,855.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,835 miles [10,999.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,710 miles [7,580 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Crab Orchard) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Crab Orchard 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Crab Orchard 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 Crab Orchard. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.7407, Longitude: -81.2307       In this case, the coordinates for Crab Orchard have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.43 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.159 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.887 degrees.