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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lakin, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lakin 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 Lakin:
    • 38.958690, -82.087087
    • 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 Lakin
  • 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 Mason County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mason County
    • Since Lakin is near Gallia County and also Meigs County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gallia County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Meigs 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 Lakin

Communities Also Named Lakin ...

We found five communities that are also named Lakin.

Within West Virginia, the name Lakin is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Siskiyou County
      • This Lakin is located in Siskiyou County and lies 2,071 miles [3,333 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Lakin that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Siskiyou County community of Lakin.
    • Kansas
      • Harvey County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Harvey County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harvey County community of Lakin.
      • Kearny County
      • This Lakin is located in Kearny County and lies 1,037 miles [1,668.9 km]<1> to the west of the Lakin that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kearny County community of Lakin.
      • Sedgwick County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Lakin [Sedgwick County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Wayne County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Lakin [Wayne County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lakin ...

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.

  • Board
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Board is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Board
  • Dutchtown ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Dutchtown is located in Meigs County (OH)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dutchtown
  • Forest Run ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Forest Run is located in Meigs County (OH)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Run
  • Heights
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Heights is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heights
  • Lincoln Heights
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Lincoln Heights is located in Meigs County (OH)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Heights
  • Locust Lane ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Locust Lane is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Lane
  • Maggie
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Maggie is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maggie
  • Mason
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Meadowbrook
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Meadowbrook is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
  • Minersville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Minersville is located in Meigs County (OH)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minersville
  • Pike Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Pike Hill is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pike Hill
  • Point Pleasant
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Rock Springs
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Rock Springs is located in Meigs County (OH)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Springs
    • Rutland
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Sassafras
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Sassafras is located in Mason County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sassafras
    • Silver Run
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Silver Run is located in Meigs County (OH)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Run

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

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

  • Point Pleasant, which is the Seat of Mason County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 48 miles [77.2 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could walk a straight line from Lakin to Charleston, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 271 miles [436.1 km] to the east (E). 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<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,104 miles [9,823.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,822 miles [10,978.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,697 miles [7,559.1 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 from Point A (ie- Lakin) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Lakin, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Lakin 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.
<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 Lakin 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 Lakin. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.9587, Longitude: -82.0871       In this case, the coordinates for Lakin have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.927 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.906 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.866 degrees.