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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Maple Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Maple Lake 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 Maple Lake:
    • 39.295368, -80.207030
    • 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 Maple Lake
  • 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 Harrison County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harrison County
    • Since Maple Lake is near Taylor County and also Barbour County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Taylor County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Barbour 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 Maple Lake

Communities Also Named Maple Lake ...

We found five communities that are also named Maple Lake.

Within West Virginia, the name Maple Lake is unique.

Beyond West Virginia, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, four are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Michigan
      • Van Buren 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 Michigan community of Maple Lake [Van Buren County].
    • Minnesota
      • Wright County
      • This Maple Lake is located in Wright County and lies 814 miles [1,310 km]<2> to the northwest of the Maple Lake that is located in Harrison County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wright County community of Maple Lake.
    • Ohio
      • Jefferson 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 Ohio community of Maple Lake [Jefferson County].
    • Ontario
      • This Maple Lake lies 407 miles [655 km]<2> to the north of the Maple Lake that is located in Harrison County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Lackawanna County
      • This Maple Lake is located in Lackawanna County and lies 281 miles [452.2 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Maple Lake that is located in Harrison County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lackawanna County community of Maple Lake.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Maple Lake ...

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.

  • Allied
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Allied is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allied
  • Bear Mountain
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Bear Mountain is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Mountain
  • Belgium
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Belgium is located in Taylor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belgium
  • Boothsville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Boothsville is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boothsville
  • Chestnut Hills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Chestnut Hills is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Hills
  • Erie
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Erie is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
  • Glen Falls
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Glen Falls is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Falls
  • Gore
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Gore is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gore
  • Gypsy
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Gypsy is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gypsy
  • Industrial
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Industrial is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Industrial
  • Lodgeville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Lodgeville is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lodgeville
  • Meadowbrook
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Meadowbrook is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Nutter Fort
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Nutter Fort is located in Harrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nutter Fort
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,501 people
    • Oral Lake
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Oral Lake is located in Harrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oral Lake
    • Pepper
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Pepper is located in Barbour County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pepper
    • Quiet Dell
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Quiet Dell is located in Harrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quiet Dell
    • Saltwell
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Saltwell is located in Harrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saltwell
    • Summit Park
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Summit Park is located in Harrison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit Park

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

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

  • Clarksburg, which is the Seat of Harrison County, lies just to the West.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 100 miles [160.9 km]<2> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Maple Lake to Charleston, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 172 miles [276.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,013 miles [9,677 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,727 miles [10,826.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,602 miles [7,406.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Maple Lake 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Maple Lake) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Maple Lake 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 Maple Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.2954, Longitude: -80.2070       In this case, the coordinates for Maple Lake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.767 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.635 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.927 degrees.