Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Mattie, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mattie and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Mattie
- 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 Mattie:
- 38.609260, -81.469567
- 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 Mattie
- 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 Roane County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Roane County
- Since Mattie is near Jackson County and also Kanawha County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Jackson County
- eBird sighting report for Kanawha 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 Mattie ...
We found seven communities that share the name Mattie.
Within West Virginia, the name Mattie is unique.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Florida
- Georgia
- Kentucky
- Mississippi
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
Curious and Interesting Names Near Mattie ...
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.
- Advent
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west) - Harmony
(5 miles [8 km] to the north) - Hicumbottom
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hicumbottom have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hicumbottom
- Hicumbottom is located in Kanawha County
- Island Branch
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island Branch
- Island Branch is located in Kanawha County
- July ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest) - Kettle
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest) - Mount Hope
(Less than 2 miles to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Hope have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
- Mount Hope is located in Roane County
- Mount Welcome
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Welcome have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Welcome
- Mount Welcome is located in Roane County
- Shad ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast) - Vicars
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest) - Woodyard ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
How Far From Mattie 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 Mattie to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Mattie once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Mattie and extending to:
- Spencer, which is the Seat of Roane County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Mattie to Spencer, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 19 miles [30.6 km] to the south southwest (SSW). The buggy would take 6 hours and walking would take just over a day.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 239 miles [384.6 km] to the east (E). 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 14 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,095 miles [9,809 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,810 miles [10,959.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,685 miles [7,539.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Mattie 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 '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- Mattie) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Mattie. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.6093, Longitude: -81.4696 In this case, the coordinates for Mattie have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Mattie, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Mattie to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.557 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.432 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.709 degrees. |