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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Iris, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Iris 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 Iris:
    • 39.033695, -81.055111
    • 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 Iris
  • 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 Ritchie County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ritchie County
    • Since Iris is near Calhoun County and also Gilmer County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Calhoun County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gilmer 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 Iris

Communities Also Named Iris ...

We found eight communities that are also named Iris.

Within West Virginia, the name Iris is unique.

Beyond West Virginia, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, seven are located in the United States and three are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Imperial County
      • This Iris is located in Imperial County and lies 1,945 miles [3,130.2 km]<1> to the west of the Iris that is located in Ritchie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Imperial County community of Iris.
    • Colorado
      • Saguache County
      • This Iris is located in Saguache County and lies 1,384 miles [2,227.3 km]<1> to the west of the Iris that is located in Ritchie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saguache County community of Iris.
    • Indiana
      • Harrison 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 Indiana community of Iris [Harrison County].
    • Michigan
      • Marquette 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 Michigan community of Iris [Marquette County].
    • Mississippi
      • Coahoma County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Mississippi community of Iris [Coahoma County].
    • Montana
      • Missoula County
      • This Iris is located in Missoula County and lies 1,717 miles [2,763.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Iris that is located in Ritchie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Missoula County community of Iris.
    • Prince Edward Island
      • 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 Prince Edward Island community of Iris.
    • South Carolina
      • Abbeville County
      • This Iris is located in Abbeville County and lies 336 miles [540.7 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Iris that is located in Ritchie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Abbeville County community of Iris.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Iris ...

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.

  • Big Springs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Big Springs is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Springs
  • Brohard
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Brohard is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brohard
  • Burnt House
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Burnt House is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnt House
  • Dutchman
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Dutchman is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dutchman
  • Five Forks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Five Forks is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Forks
  • Freed
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Freed is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freed
  • Grantsville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Hazelgreen
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Hazelgreen is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazelgreen
  • Long Run
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Long Run is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Run
  • Pleasant Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Pleasant Hill is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
  • Purdy
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Purdy is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Purdy
  • Racket
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Racket is located in Gilmer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Racket
  • Slab
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Slab is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slab
  • Tanner
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Tanner is located in Gilmer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tanner

How Far From Iris 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 Iris 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 Iris once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Iris and extending to:

  • Harrisville, which is the Seat of Ritchie County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Iris to Harrisville, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 56 miles [90.1 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 215 miles [346 km] to the east (E). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,059 miles [9,751 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>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Iris) 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 Iris 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>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 Iris, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Iris 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 Iris. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.0337, Longitude: -81.0551       In this case, the coordinates for Iris have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.293 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.195 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.388 degrees.