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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hix, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hix 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 Hix:
    • 37.224837, -81.633720
    • 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 Hix
  • 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 McDowell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McDowell County
    • Since Hix is near Tazewell County and also Buchanan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tazewell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Buchanan 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 Hix

Communities Also Named Hix ...

We found seven communities that are also named Hix.

There is one other community in West Virginia that is also named Hix.

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

  • Communities Located In West Virginia ...
    • Summers County
      • This Hix is located in Summers County and lies 56 miles [90.1 km]<1> to the northeast of the Hix that is located in McDowell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Summers County community of Hix.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • DeKalb County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Alabama community of Hix [DeKalb County].
    • Arkansas
      • Phillips County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Hix [Phillips County].
    • Georgia
      • Madison County
      • This Hix is located in Madison County and lies 230 miles [370.1 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Hix that is located in McDowell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Hix.
    • Tennessee
      • Clay County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Hix [Clay County].
      • Overton County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Hix [Overton County].
    • Texas
      • Burleson County
      • This Hix is located in Burleson County and lies 969 miles [1,559.5 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Hix that is located in McDowell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Burleson County community of Hix.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Hix ...

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.

  • Bearwallow
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Bearwallow is located in Buchanan County (VA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bearwallow
  • Bishop
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Bishop is located in Tazewell County (VA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bishop
  • Cucumber
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Cucumber is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cucumber
  • Faraday
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Faraday is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Faraday
  • Gap Store
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Gap Store is located in Tazewell County (VA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gap Store
  • Horsepen
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Horsepen is located in Tazewell County (VA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horsepen
  • Horsepen Cove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Horsepen Cove is located in Tazewell County (VA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horsepen Cove
  • Jacobs Fork
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Jacobs Fork is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacobs Fork
  • Johnstown
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Johnstown is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnstown
  • Pleasant Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Pleasant Hill is located in Tazewell County (VA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
  • Rift
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Rift is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rift
  • Squire
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Squire is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Squire
  • Stony Ridge
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Stony Ridge is located in Tazewell County (VA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Ridge
  • Warriormine
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Warriormine is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warriormine

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Hix once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Hix and extending to:

  • Welch, which is the Seat of McDowell County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Hix to Welch, with an average speed<4> 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 77 miles [123.9 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 275 miles [442.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,164 miles [9,920 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,873 miles [11,061 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,749 miles [7,642.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Hix) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Hix, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Hix 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.
<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 Hix 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 Hix. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.2248, Longitude: -81.6337       In this case, the coordinates for Hix have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.678 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.367 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.219 degrees.