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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Griffithsville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Griffithsville 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 Griffithsville:
    • 38.238705, -81.989298
    • 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 Griffithsville
  • 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 Lincoln County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lincoln County
    • Since Griffithsville is near Putnam County and also Boone County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Putnam County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Boone 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 Griffithsville

Curious and Interesting Names Near Griffithsville ...

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.

  • Allen ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Allen is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allen
  • East ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • East is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East
  • Fork Junction
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Fork Junction is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fork Junction
  • Forks of Coal
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Forks of Coal is located in Kanawha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forks of Coal
  • Horse Creek Junction
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Horse Creek Junction is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horse Creek Junction
  • Irene
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Irene is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irene
  • Jenks
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jenks is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenks
  • Julian
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Julian is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Julian
  • Kinder ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Kinder is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kinder
  • Layville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Layville is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Layville
  • Pleasant View
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Pleasant View is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant View
  • Portersville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Portersville is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portersville
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Price
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Price is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Price
    • River Bend
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • River Bend is located in Kanawha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Bend
    • Spears ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
      • Spears is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spears
    • Sweetland
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Sweetland is located in Lincoln County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetland
    • Tornado
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Tornado is located in Kanawha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tornado

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

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

  • Hamlin, which is the Seat of Lincoln County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could walk a straight line from Griffithsville to Charleston, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 271 miles [436.1 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,133 miles [9,870.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,847 miles [11,019.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,723 miles [7,600.9 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Griffithsville) 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 Griffithsville 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 Griffithsville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.2387, Longitude: -81.9893       In this case, the coordinates for Griffithsville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.88 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.747 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.053 degrees.