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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Fern, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fern 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 Fern:
    • 39.347855, -81.066500
    • 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 Fern
  • 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 Pleasants County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pleasants County
    • Since Fern is near Washington County and also Ritchie County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ritchie 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 Fern

Communities Also Named Fern ...

We found thirteen communities that are also named Fern.

Within West Virginia, the name Fern is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Franklin County
      • This Fern is located in Franklin County and lies 753 miles [1,211.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Fern that is located in Pleasants County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Fern.
    • California
      • Shasta County
      • This Fern is located in Shasta County and lies 2,143 miles [3,448.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Fern that is located in Pleasants County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Shasta County community of Fern.
    • Indiana
      • Putnam 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 Indiana community of Fern [Putnam County].
    • Iowa
      • Grundy County
      • This Fern is located in Grundy County and lies 647 miles [1,041.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Fern that is located in Pleasants County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grundy County community of Fern.
    • Kansas
      • Labette County
      • This Fern is located in Labette County and lies 786 miles [1,264.9 km]<1> to the west of the Fern that is located in Pleasants County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Labette County community of Fern.
      • Sherman 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 Kansas community of Fern [Sherman County].
    • Louisiana
      • Natchitoches Parish
      • This Fern is located in Natchitoches Parish and lies 856 miles [1,377.6 km]<1> to the southwest of the Fern that is located in Pleasants County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Natchitoches Parish community of Fern.
    • Michigan
      • Mason County
      • This Fern is located in Mason County and lies 408 miles [656.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Fern that is located in Pleasants County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mason County community of Fern.
    • Oklahoma
      • Harper 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 Oklahoma community of Fern [Harper County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Clarion County
      • This Fern is located in Clarion County and lies 156 miles [251.1 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Fern that is located in Pleasants County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clarion County community of Fern.
    • 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 Fern [Harris County].
      • Liberty 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 Fern [Liberty County].
    • Wisconsin
      • Florence County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wisconsin community of Fern [Florence County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fern ...

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.

  • Admiral ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Admiral is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Admiral
  • Algeria ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Algeria is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Algeria
  • Cloverdale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Cloverdale is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
  • Crisp ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Crisp is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crisp
  • Federal ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Federal is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Federal
  • Finch
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Finch is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Finch
  • Hebron
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Hebron is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hebron
  • Highland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Highland is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
  • League
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • League is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for League
  • Maxwell
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Maxwell is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxwell
  • Meadville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Meadville is located in Tyler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadville
  • Pike
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Pike is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pike
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Plum Run
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Plum Run is located in Tyler County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum Run
    • Sugar Valley
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Sugar Valley is located in Pleasants County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Valley
    • Twiggs
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Twiggs is located in Pleasants County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twiggs
    • Union Mills
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Union Mills is located in Pleasants County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Mills
    • Wasp
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Wasp is located in Pleasants County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wasp

How Far From Fern to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Fern to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Saint Marys, which is the Seat of Pleasants County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 75 miles [120.7 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Fern to Charleston, with an average speed<4>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 218 miles [350.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,045 miles [9,728.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,762 miles [10,882.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,637 miles [7,462.5 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Fern) 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 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 Fern 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>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 Fern, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Fern 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 Fern. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.3479, Longitude: -81.0665       In this case, the coordinates for Fern have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.29 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.238 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.287 degrees.