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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Laurel Run, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Laurel Run 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 Laurel Run:
    • 39.651192, -79.722552
    • 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 Laurel Run
  • 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 Preston County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Preston County
    • Since Laurel Run is near Fayette County and also Monongalia County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monongalia 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 Laurel Run

Communities Also Named Laurel Run ...

We found three communities that are also named Laurel Run.

Within West Virginia, the name Laurel Run is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Saint Mary's County
      • This Laurel Run is located in Saint Mary's County and lies 202 miles [325.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Laurel Run that is located in Preston County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Mary's County community of Laurel Run.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Elk 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 Pennsylvania community of Laurel Run [Elk County].
      • Luzerne County
      • This Laurel Run is located in Luzerne County and lies 230 miles [370.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Laurel Run that is located in Preston County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Luzerne County community of Laurel Run.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Laurel Run ...

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.

  • Bull Run
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Bull Run is located in Preston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bull Run
  • Cascade
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Cascade is located in Preston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cascade
  • Cheat Lake
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Cheat Lake is located in Monongalia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cheat Lake
  • Cheat Neck
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Cheat Neck is located in Monongalia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cheat Neck
  • Florence ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Florence is located in Preston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
  • Greystone
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Greystone is located in Monongalia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greystone
  • Herring
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Herring is located in Preston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herring
  • Hopewell
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Hopewell is located in Preston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell
  • Ices Ferry
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Ices Ferry is located in Monongalia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ices Ferry
  • Little Sandy
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Little Sandy is located in Preston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Sandy
  • Rockville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Rockville is located in Preston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockville
  • Sugar Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Sugar Valley is located in Preston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Valley
  • Sunset Beach
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Sunset Beach is located in Monongalia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Beach
  • Valley Point
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Valley Point is located in Preston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Point

How Far From Laurel Run to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Laurel Run to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Kingwood, which is the Seat of Preston County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Laurel Run to Kingwood, with an average speed<3> 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 136 miles [218.9 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 152 miles [244.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,977 miles [9,619 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,692 miles [10,769.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,567 miles [7,349.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Laurel Run) 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 Laurel Run 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 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 Laurel Run 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 Laurel Run. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6512, Longitude: -79.7226       In this case, the coordinates for Laurel Run have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.458 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.336 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.589 degrees.