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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Macfarlan, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Macfarlan 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 Macfarlan:
    • 39.077858, -81.198726
    • 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 Macfarlan
  • 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 Ritchie County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ritchie County
    • Since Macfarlan is near Calhoun County and also Wirt County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Calhoun County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wirt 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 Macfarlan

Communities Also Named Macfarlan ...

We found one communities that are also named Macfarlan.

Within West Virginia, the name Macfarlan is unique.

Beyond West Virginia, there is another community also named Macfarlan in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • North Carolina
      • Anson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Macfarlan [Anson County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Macfarlan ...

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.

  • Big Springs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Big Springs is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Springs
  • Brohard
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Brohard is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brohard
  • Burning Springs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Burning Springs is located in Wirt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burning Springs
  • Cairo
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Cherry
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Cherry is located in Wirt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry
  • Dutchman
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Dutchman is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dutchman
  • Freed
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Freed is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freed
  • Freeport
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Freeport is located in Wirt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeport
  • Iris ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Iris is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iris
  • Long Run
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Long Run is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Run
  • Low Gap
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Low Gap is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Low Gap
  • Oxbow
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Oxbow is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oxbow
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Petroleum
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Petroleum is located in Ritchie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Petroleum
    • Pew Hill
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Pew Hill is located in Ritchie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pew Hill
    • Purdy
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
      • Purdy is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Purdy
    • Racy
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Racy is located in Ritchie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Racy
    • Six Hill
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Six Hill is located in Ritchie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Six Hill
    • Standingstone ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Standingstone is located in Wirt County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Standingstone

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Macfarlan and extending to:

  • Harrisville, which is the Seat of Ritchie County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<3> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Macfarlan to Harrisville, 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 55 miles [88.5 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 223 miles [358.9 km] to the east (E). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,063 miles [9,757.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,779 miles [10,909.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,654 miles [7,489.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Macfarlan 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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- Macfarlan) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Macfarlan 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 Macfarlan. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.0779, Longitude: -81.1987       In this case, the coordinates for Macfarlan have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.379 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.30 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.436 degrees.