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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Friars Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Friars Hill 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 Friars Hill:
    • 38.014286, -80.439246
    • 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 Friars Hill
  • 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 Greenbrier County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greenbrier County
    • Since Friars Hill is near Pocahontas County and also Nicholas County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pocahontas County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Nicholas 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 Friars Hill

Curious and Interesting Names Near Friars Hill ...

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.

  • Cornstalk
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Cornstalk is located in Greenbrier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornstalk
  • Falling Spring
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Falling Spring is located in Greenbrier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falling Spring
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 200 people
  • Golden
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Golden is located in Greenbrier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden
  • Julia
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Julia is located in Greenbrier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Julia
  • Leonard
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Leonard is located in Greenbrier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leonard
  • Oscar
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Oscar is located in Greenbrier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oscar
  • Spring Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Spring Creek is located in Greenbrier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Creek
  • Sunlight
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Sunlight is located in Greenbrier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunlight
  • Trout
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Trout is located in Greenbrier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trout

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Friars Hill and extending to:

  • Lewisburg, which is the Seat of Greenbrier County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Friars Hill to Lewisburg, with an average speed<2> 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 four to five hours.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 68 miles [109.4 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 193 miles [310.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,079 miles [9,783.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,789 miles [10,925.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,665 miles [7,507.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Friars Hill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Friars Hill 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 Friars Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.0143, Longitude: -80.4392       In this case, the coordinates for Friars Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.949 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.651 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.464 degrees.