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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Kalamazoo, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Kalamazoo 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 Kalamazoo:
    • 39.139676, -79.915039
    • 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 Kalamazoo
  • 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 Barbour County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Barbour County
    • Since Kalamazoo is near Tucker County and also Randolph County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tucker County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Randolph 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 Kalamazoo

Communities Also Named Kalamazoo ...

We found seven communities that are also named Kalamazoo.

Within West Virginia, the name Kalamazoo is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Logan County
      • This Kalamazoo is located in Logan County and lies 799 miles [1,285.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Kalamazoo that is located in Barbour County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Logan County community of Kalamazoo.
    • Florida
      • Volusia County
      • This Kalamazoo is located in Volusia County and lies 714 miles [1,149.1 km]<1> to the south of the Kalamazoo that is located in Barbour County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Volusia County community of Kalamazoo.
    • Kansas
      • Decatur 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 Kansas community of Kalamazoo [Decatur County].
      • Kingman County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Kalamazoo [Kingman County].
      • Sedgwick County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Kalamazoo [Sedgwick County].
    • Michigan
      • Kalamazoo County
      • This Kalamazoo is located in Kalamazoo County and lies 367 miles [590.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Kalamazoo that is located in Barbour County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kalamazoo County community of Kalamazoo.
    • Nebraska
      • Madison County
      • This Kalamazoo is located in Madison County and lies 947 miles [1,524 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Kalamazoo that is located in Barbour County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Kalamazoo.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Kalamazoo ...

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.

  • Cove Run
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Cove Run is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cove Run
  • Cove Run Station ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Cove Run Station is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cove Run Station
  • Flora ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Flora is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flora
  • Fox Hall ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Fox Hall is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Hall
  • Independence
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Independence is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence
  • Jones
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jones is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones
  • Meadowville
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Meadowville is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowville
  • Moatsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Mount Liberty
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Mount Liberty is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Liberty
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...

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

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

  • Philippi, which is the Seat of Barbour County, lies just to the West.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 107 miles [172.2 km]<1> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from Kalamazoo to Charleston, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 155 miles [249.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,007 miles [9,667.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,720 miles [10,814.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,596 miles [7,396.5 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Kalamazoo) 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 Kalamazoo 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Kalamazoo 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 Kalamazoo. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.1397, Longitude: -79.9150    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.597 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.417 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.855 degrees.