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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Isom, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Isom 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 Isom:
    • 37.943714, -81.870400
    • 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 Isom
  • 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 Logan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Logan County
    • Since Isom is near Boone County and also Lincoln County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Boone County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lincoln 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 Isom

Communities Also Named Isom ...

We found four communities that are also named Isom.

Within West Virginia, the name Isom is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Brooks County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Isom [Brooks County].
    • Kentucky
      • Letcher County
      • This Isom is located in Letcher County and lies 76 miles [122.3 km]<2> to the southwest of the Isom that is located in Logan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Letcher County community of Isom.
    • Tennessee
      • Maury County
      • This Isom is located in Maury County and lies 340 miles [547.2 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Isom that is located in Logan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Maury County community of Isom.
    • Virginia
      • Dickenson County
      • This Isom is located in Dickenson County and lies 61 miles [98.2 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Isom that is located in Logan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dickenson County community of Isom.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Isom ...

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.

  • Anchor
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Anchor is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anchor
  • Blair
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Blair is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blair
  • Clothier
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Clothier is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clothier
  • Coal Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Coal Valley is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal Valley
  • Ethel
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Ethel is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ethel
  • Five Block
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Five Block is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Block
  • Freeze Fork
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Freeze Fork is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeze Fork
  • Greenview
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Greenview is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenview
  • Havana
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Havana is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
  • Lake
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Lake is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake
  • Manila
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Manila is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manila
  • Sodom
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Sodom is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sodom
  • Spruce Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Spruce Valley is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spruce Valley
  • Turtletown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Turtletown is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turtletown

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

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

  • Logan, which is the Seat of Logan County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Isom to Logan, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 30 miles [48.3 km] to the north northeast (NNE). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 269 miles [432.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,141 miles [9,883 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,854 miles [11,030.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,730 miles [7,612.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Isom 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Isom) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Isom 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 Isom. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9437, Longitude: -81.8704       In this case, the coordinates for Isom have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.812 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.626 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.095 degrees.