Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Maben, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Maben and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Maben
- 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 Maben:
- 37.638725, -81.393992
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Maben
- 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 Wyoming County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Wyoming County
- Since Maben is near Raleigh County and also Mercer County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Raleigh County
- eBird sighting report for Mercer 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Maben ...
We found two communities that share the name Maben.
Within West Virginia, the name Maben is unique.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Mississippi
Curious and Interesting Names Near Maben ...
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.
- Amigo
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast) - Blackeagle
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blackeagle have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackeagle
- Blackeagle is located in Wyoming County
- Helen
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helen
- Helen is located in Raleigh County
- Itmann
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south) - Joe Branch
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Joe Branch have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joe Branch
- Joe Branch is located in Wyoming County
- Keyrock
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keyrock
- Keyrock is located in Wyoming County
- Newfound
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Polk Gap
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest) - Ravencliff
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ravencliff have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravencliff
- Ravencliff is located in Wyoming County
- Slab Fork
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slab Fork
- Slab Fork is located in Raleigh County
- Stonecoal Junction
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stonecoal Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonecoal Junction
- Stonecoal Junction is located in Raleigh County
How Far From Maben to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Maben to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Maben and extending to:
- Pineville, which is the Seat of Wyoming County, lies just to the West Southwest.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 50 miles [80.5 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from Maben to Charleston, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three 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 251 miles [403.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,135 miles [9,873.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,846 miles [11,017.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,722 miles [7,599.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Maben. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Maben 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. |
| <2> | 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- Maben) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Maben. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.6387, Longitude: -81.3940 In this case, the coordinates for Maben have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <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 Maben to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.53 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.258 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.989 degrees. |