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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Longdale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Longdale 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 Longdale:
    • 38.926192, -81.912914
    • 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 Longdale
  • 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 Longdale is near Meigs County and also Jackson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Meigs County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson 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 Longdale

Communities Also Named Longdale ...

We found five communities that are also named Longdale.

Within West Virginia, the name Longdale is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Seminole County
      • This Longdale is located in Seminole County and lies 706 miles [1,136.2 km]<1> to the south of the Longdale that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Seminole County community of Longdale.
    • Oklahoma
      • Blaine County
      • This Longdale is located in Blaine County and lies 929 miles [1,495.1 km]<1> to the west of the Longdale that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Blaine County community of Longdale.
    • Virginia
      • Alleghany County
      • This Longdale is located in Alleghany County and lies 138 miles [222.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Longdale that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Alleghany County community of Longdale.
      • Fairfax 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 Virginia community of Longdale [Fairfax County].
      • Henrico County
      • This Longdale is located in Henrico County and lies 256 miles [412 km] to the east southeast of the Longdale that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Henrico County community of Longdale.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Longdale ...

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.

  • Antiquity
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Antiquity is located in Meigs County (OH)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Antiquity
  • Apple Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Apple Grove is located in Meigs County (OH)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apple Grove
  • Board
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Board is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Board
  • Chestnut
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Chestnut is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut
  • Cottageville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Cottageville is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottageville
  • Evergreen Hills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Evergreen Hills is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Hills
  • Great Bend
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Great Bend is located in Meigs County (OH)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Bend
  • Hills Crossing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Hills Crossing is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hills Crossing
  • Oakgrove ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Oakgrove is located in Meigs County (OH)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakgrove
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Plants
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Plants is located in Meigs County (OH)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plants
    • Pleasant View
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Pleasant View is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant View
    • Sassafras
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Sassafras is located in Mason County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sassafras
    • School House ‑ Historic
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • School House is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for School House
    • Spiller
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Spiller is located in Meigs County (OH)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spiller
    • Willow Grove ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Willow Grove is located in Jackson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Grove

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

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

  • Point Pleasant, which is the Seat of Mason County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Longdale to Point Pleasant, 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 42 miles [67.6 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 261 miles [420 km] to the east (E). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,099 miles [9,815.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,816 miles [10,969.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,691 miles [7,549.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Longdale) 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 Longdale 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 Longdale 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 Longdale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.9262, Longitude: -81.9129       In this case, the coordinates for Longdale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.821 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.78 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.80 degrees.