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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Garwood, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Garwood 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 Garwood:
    • 37.482060, -81.321212
    • 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 Garwood
  • 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 Wyoming County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wyoming County
    • Since Garwood is near Mercer County and also McDowell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mercer County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McDowell 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 Garwood

Communities Also Named Garwood ...

We found five communities that are also named Garwood.

Within West Virginia, the name Garwood is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Kootenai County
      • This Garwood is located in Kootenai County and lies 1,916 miles [3,083.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the Garwood that is located in Wyoming County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kootenai County community of Garwood.
    • Missouri
      • Reynolds County
      • This Garwood is located in Reynolds County and lies 525 miles [844.9 km]<1> to the west of the Garwood that is located in Wyoming County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Reynolds County community of Garwood.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Washington 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 Pennsylvania community of Garwood [Washington County].
    • South Carolina
      • Colleton 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 South Carolina community of Garwood [Colleton County].
    • Texas
      • Colorado County
      • This Garwood is located in Colorado County and lies 1,028 miles [1,654.4 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Garwood that is located in Wyoming County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Colorado County community of Garwood.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Garwood ...

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.

  • Basin
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Basin is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Basin
  • Blackeagle
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Blackeagle is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackeagle
  • Bud
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Bud is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bud
  • Cherokee
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Cherokee is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee
  • Crumpler
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Crumpler is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crumpler
  • Hiawatha
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Hiawatha is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hiawatha
  • Smokeless
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Smokeless is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smokeless
  • Widemouth ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Widemouth is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Widemouth
  • Worth
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Worth is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Worth

How Far From Garwood to ...

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

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

  • Pineville, which is the Seat of Wyoming County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Garwood to Pineville, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours 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 62 miles [99.8 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 252 miles [405.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> 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).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,849 miles [11,022.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,725 miles [7,604.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Garwood) 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 Garwood 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 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.
<4>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 Garwood 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 Garwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4821, Longitude: -81.3212       In this case, the coordinates for Garwood have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.488 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.188 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.007 degrees.