Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in El Centro, we use the following websites to find information relevant to El Centro and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for El Centro
- 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 El Centro:
- 37.320951, -81.136760
- 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 El Centro
- 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 El Centro is near Bland County and also Tazewell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Bland County
- eBird sighting report for Tazewell 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 El Centro ...
We found ten communities that share the name El Centro.
Within West Virginia, the name El Centro is unique.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
In addition to the above occurrences of El Centro, we know of eight communities located outside of the United States and Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Texas
- Communities Beyond North America ...
- Colombia
- - Santander
- Distance: 2,148 miles [3,456.9 km]<1> to the south southeast
- - Cundinamarca
- Distance: 2,294 miles [3,691.8 km] to the south southeast
- Dominican Republic
- - Hato Mayor
- Distance: 1,446 miles [2,327.1 km]<1> to the south southeast
- - Santo Domingo
- Distance: 1,462 miles [2,352.9 km] to the south southeast
- Mexico
- Distance: 1,627 miles [2,618.4 km]<1> to the west southwest
- Puerto Rico
- Distance: 1,587 miles [2,554 km]<1> to the southeast
- El Salvador
- Distance: 1,657 miles [2,666.7 km]<1> to the south southwest
- Venezuela
- Distance: 1,934 miles [3,112.5 km]<1> to the south southeast
- Colombia
Curious and Interesting Names Near El Centro ...
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
(Less than 2 miles to the east) - Blake ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east) - Edison
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edison
- Edison is located in Mercer County
- Green Valley
(Less than 2 miles to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
- Green Valley is located in Mercer County
- Hardy
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Kale
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest) - Lilly Grove
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lilly Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lilly Grove
- Lilly Grove is located in Mercer County
- Littlesburg
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littlesburg
- Littlesburg is located in Mercer County
- Maple View
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maple View have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple View
- Maple View is located in Mercer County
- Oak Grove
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast) - Rock
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rock have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock
- Rock is located in Mercer County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rock <3>
- Rocky Gap
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Gap
- Rocky Gap is located in Bland County (VA)
- Round Bottom
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Bottom
- Round Bottom is located in Bland County (VA)
- Sandlick
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
How Far From El Centro 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 El Centro 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 El Centro once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in El Centro and extending to:
- Princeton, which is the Seat of Mercer County, lies just to the North Northeast.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 75 miles [120.7 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from El Centro 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 247 miles [397.5 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 6,139 miles [9,879.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,847 miles [11,019.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,724 miles [7,602.5 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> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- El Centro) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in El Centro. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3210, Longitude: -81.1368 In this case, the coordinates for El Centro have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 El Centro, 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 El Centro 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 310.38 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.041 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.981 degrees. |