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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Josephine, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Josephine and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Josephine:
    • 37.620115, -81.223711
    • 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 Josephine
  • 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 Raleigh County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Raleigh County
    • Since Josephine is near Mercer County and also Wyoming County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mercer County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wyoming 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 Josephine

Communities Also Named Josephine ...

We found nine communities that are also named Josephine.

Within West Virginia, the name Josephine is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Baldwin County
      • This Josephine is located in Baldwin County and lies 619 miles [996.2 km]<1> to the southwest of the Josephine that is located in Raleigh County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baldwin County community of Josephine.
    • Georgia
      • Early 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 Georgia community of Josephine [Early County].
    • Kentucky
      • Scott County
      • This Josephine is located in Scott County and lies 193 miles [310.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Josephine that is located in Raleigh County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Scott County community of Josephine.
    • North Dakota
      • Benson County
      • This Josephine is located in Benson County and lies 1,156 miles [1,860.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Josephine that is located in Raleigh County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Benson County community of Josephine.
    • Ontario
      • This Josephine lies 744 miles [1,197.4 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Josephine that is located in Raleigh County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Indiana County
      • This Josephine is located in Indiana County and lies 225 miles [362.1 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Josephine that is located in Raleigh County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Indiana County community of Josephine.
    • Tennessee
      • Wilson 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 Tennessee community of Josephine [Wilson County].
    • Texas
      • Collin County
      • This Josephine is located in Collin County and lies 905 miles [1,456.5 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Josephine that is located in Raleigh County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Collin County community of Josephine.
    • Virginia
      • Wise County
      • This Josephine is located in Wise County and lies 92 miles [148.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Josephine that is located in Raleigh County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wise County community of Josephine.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Josephine ...

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.

  • Amigo
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Amigo is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amigo
  • Big Stick
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Big Stick is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Stick
  • Coal City
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Coal City is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal City
  • Helen
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Helen is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helen
  • Jonben
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jonben is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonben
  • Lego
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Lego is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lego
  • Lillybrook
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Lillybrook is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lillybrook
  • Mead
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Mead is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mead
  • Odd
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Odd is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Odd
  • Princewick
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Princewick is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Princewick
  • Stonecoal Junction
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Stonecoal Junction is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonecoal Junction
  • Winding Gulf
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Winding Gulf is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winding Gulf
  • Woodpeck
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Woodpeck is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodpeck

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

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

  • Beckley, which is the Seat of Raleigh County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Josephine to Beckley, with an average speed<4> 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 54 miles [86.9 km] to the north northwest (NNW). 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 243 miles [391.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,129 miles [9,863.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,839 miles [11,006.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,715 miles [7,588.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Josephine) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Josephine 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 Josephine, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Josephine 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 Josephine. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.6201, Longitude: -81.2237       In this case, the coordinates for Josephine have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.428 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.139 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.923 degrees.