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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gypsy, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gypsy 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 Gypsy:
    • 39.368699, -80.317865
    • 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 Gypsy
  • 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 Harrison County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harrison County
    • Since Gypsy is near Marion County and also Taylor County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marion County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Taylor 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 Gypsy

Communities Also Named Gypsy ...

We found five communities that are also named Gypsy.

Within West Virginia, the name Gypsy is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Magoffin County
      • This Gypsy is located in Magoffin County and lies 185 miles [297.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Gypsy that is located in Harrison County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Magoffin County community of Gypsy.
    • Louisiana
      • Saint Charles Parish
      • This Gypsy is located in Saint Charles Parish and lies 863 miles [1,388.9 km]<1> to the southwest of the Gypsy that is located in Harrison County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Charles Parish community of Gypsy.
    • North Carolina
      • Henderson 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 North Carolina community of Gypsy [Henderson County].
    • Oklahoma
      • Creek County
      • This Gypsy is located in Creek County and lies 917 miles [1,475.8 km]<1> to the west of the Gypsy that is located in Harrison County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Creek County community of Gypsy.
    • Tennessee
      • Carroll 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 Tennessee community of Gypsy [Carroll County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gypsy ...

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.

  • Allied
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Allied is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allied
  • Dixie
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Dixie is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixie
  • Enterprise
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Enterprise is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enterprise
  • Erie
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Erie is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
  • Francis
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Francis is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Francis
  • Glen Falls
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Glen Falls is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Falls
  • Gore
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Gore is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gore
  • Highland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Highland is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
  • Jimtown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jimtown is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jimtown
  • Killarm
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Killarm is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Killarm
  • Lodgeville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Lodgeville is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lodgeville
  • Long Run
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Long Run is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Run
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Lumberport
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Lumberport is located in Harrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lumberport
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 835 people
    • Meadowbrook
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Meadowbrook is located in Harrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
    • Oak Grove ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Oak Grove is located in Marion County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
    • Rosebud
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Rosebud is located in Harrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosebud
    • Saltwell
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Saltwell is located in Harrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saltwell

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

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

  • Clarksburg, which is the Seat of Harrison County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 99 miles [159.3 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Gypsy to Charleston, with an average speed<3>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 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 178 miles [286.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,014 miles [9,678.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,729 miles [10,829.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,604 miles [7,409.4 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- Gypsy) 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 Gypsy 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 Gypsy 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 Gypsy. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.3687, Longitude: -80.3179       In this case, the coordinates for Gypsy have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.832 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.72 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.95 degrees.