Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Holstead, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Holstead and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Holstead
- 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 Holstead:
- 38.569548, -80.627593
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Holstead
- 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 Braxton County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Braxton County
- Since Holstead is near Nicholas County and also Webster County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Nicholas County
- eBird sighting report for Webster 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:
- Waymark.com
Curious and Interesting Names Near Holstead ...
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.
- Bakers Run
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bakers Run have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bakers Run
- Bakers Run is located in Braxton County
- Big Run
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Run
- Big Run is located in Webster County
- Birch River
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birch River
- Birch River is located in Nicholas County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Birch River <2>
- Bison
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest) - Boggs
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south) - Diana
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east) - Fishers Crossing
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fishers Crossing have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fishers Crossing
- Fishers Crossing is located in Webster County
- Guardian
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast) - Halo
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast) - Holly
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast) - Little Birch
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Birch
- Little Birch is located in Braxton County
- McNutt
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north) - Continue List (4 more) ...
- Middle Run
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Middle Run have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middle Run
- Middle Run is located in Braxton County
- Tesla
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest) - Thrash ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north) - Waggy ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Middle Run
How Far From Holstead 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 Holstead 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<3> community of Holstead once stood, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Holstead and extending to:
- Sutton, which is the Seat of Braxton County, lies just to the Northwest.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 56 miles [90.1 km]<4> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could walk a straight line from Holstead to Charleston, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 194 miles [312.2 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,062 miles [9,755.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,774 miles [10,901.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,650 miles [7,483.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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 Holstead, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Holstead) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Holstead. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5695, Longitude: -80.6276 In this case, the coordinates for Holstead have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Holstead to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.047 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.845 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.358 degrees. |