RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative Quarter for West Virginia







Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in East River, we use the following websites to find information relevant to East River 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 East River:
    • 37.316786, -81.022309
    • 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 East River
  • 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 East River ...

We found seven communities that share the name East River.

Within West Virginia, the name East River is unique.

Beyond West Virginia, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these seven communities, six are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Connecticut
      • New Haven County
      • This East River is located in New Haven County and lies 524 miles [843.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the East River that is located in Mercer County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Haven County community of East River.
    • Illinois
      • Kankakee 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 Illinois community of East River [Kankakee County].
    • New York
      • Cortland County
      • This East River is located in Cortland County and lies 450 miles [724.2 km]<1> to the north northeast of the East River that is located in Mercer County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cortland County community of East River.
    • Nova Scotia
      • This East River lies 1,009 miles [1,623.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the East River that is located in Mercer County.
    • Texas
      • Harris 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 Texas community of East River [Harris County].
      • Liberty County
      • This East River is located in Liberty County and lies 942 miles [1,516 km]<1> to the west southwest of the East River that is located in Mercer County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Liberty County community of East River.
      • Montgomery County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of East River [Montgomery County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near East River ...

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
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Billie have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Billie
    • Billie is located in Mercer County
  • Blake ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blake have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blake
    • Blake is located in Mercer County
  • First Ford
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for First Ford have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
    • Green Valley is located in Mercer County
  • Hardy
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hardy have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardy
    • Hardy is located in Mercer County
  • Hatcher
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hatcher have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hatcher
    • Hatcher is located in Mercer County
  • Kellysville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kellysville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellysville
    • Kellysville is located in Mercer County
  • Lilly Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lilly Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lilly Grove
    • Lilly Grove is located in Mercer County
  • Oak Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oak Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
    • Oak Grove is located in Mercer County
  • Pumpkin Center
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pumpkin Center have been provided by the GNIS.<3> 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
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Gap
    • Rocky Gap is located in Bland County (VA)
  • Round Bottom
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Bottom
    • Round Bottom is located in Bland County (VA)

How Far From East River 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 East River 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 East River once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in East River and extending to:

  • Princeton, which is the Seat of Mercer County, lies just to the Northwest.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 78 miles [125.5 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from East River 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 242 miles [389.5 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 6,134 miles [9,871.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,843 miles [11,012.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,719 miles [7,594.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>

The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/

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- East River) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in East River. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3168, Longitude: -81.0223       In this case, the coordinates for East River have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 East River 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>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.
<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 East River, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 East River 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 310.312 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.962 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.935 degrees.









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024