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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Leopold, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Leopold 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 Leopold:
    • 39.125366, -80.740657
    • 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 Leopold
  • 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 Doddridge County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Doddridge County
    • Since Leopold is near Gilmer County and also Lewis County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gilmer County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lewis 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 Leopold

Communities Also Named Leopold ...

We found four communities that are also named Leopold.

Within West Virginia, the name Leopold is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Perry County
      • This Leopold is located in Perry County and lies 322 miles [518.2 km]<1> to the west of the Leopold that is located in Doddridge County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Perry County community of Leopold.
    • Kansas
      • Republic 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 Leopold [Republic County].
    • Missouri
      • Bollinger County
      • This Leopold is located in Bollinger County and lies 514 miles [827.2 km]<1> to the west of the Leopold that is located in Doddridge County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bollinger County community of Leopold.
    • New Mexico
      • Grant County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Grant County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grant County community of Leopold.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Leopold ...

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.

  • Alice
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Alice is located in Gilmer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alice
  • Blandville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Blandville is located in Doddridge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blandville
  • Churchville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Churchville is located in Lewis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Churchville
  • Coldwater
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Coldwater is located in Doddridge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coldwater
  • Fink
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Fink is located in Lewis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fink
  • Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Grove is located in Doddridge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove
  • Joy
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Joy is located in Doddridge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joy
  • Market
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Market is located in Doddridge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Market
  • Middle Point
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Middle Point is located in Doddridge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middle Point
  • Sugar Camp
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Sugar Camp is located in Doddridge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Camp

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

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

  • West Union, which is the Seat of Doddridge County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Leopold to West Union, 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 71 miles [114.3 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take 4 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 199 miles [320.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,042 miles [9,723.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,757 miles [10,874.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,632 miles [7,454.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Leopold) 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 Leopold 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 Leopold, 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 Leopold 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 Leopold. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.1254, Longitude: -80.7407       In this case, the coordinates for Leopold have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.098 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.987 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.219 degrees.