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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McClain, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McClain and the surrounding area.

  • 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 McClain:
    • 38.994803, -81.536512
    • 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 McClain
  • 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 Jackson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Since McClain is near Wirt County and also Wood County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wirt County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wood 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 McClain

Communities Also Named McClain ...

We found two communities that are also named McClain.

Within West Virginia, the name McClain is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Henderson 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 Kentucky community of McClain [Henderson County].
    • Montana
      • Missoula County
      • This McClain is located in Missoula County and lies 1,717 miles [2,763.2 km]<2> to the west northwest of the McClain that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Missoula County community of McClain.

Curious and Interesting Names Near McClain ...

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.

  • Cuba
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Cuba is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuba
  • Drift Run
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Drift Run is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drift Run
  • LeRoy
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • LeRoy is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for LeRoy
  • Liverpool
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Liverpool is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liverpool
  • Meadowdale
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Meadowdale is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowdale
  • Palestine
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Palestine is located in Wirt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palestine
  • Peewee
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Peewee is located in Wirt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peewee
  • Rockport
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Rockport is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockport
  • Rover
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Rover is located in Wirt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rover
  • Sandy Summit
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Sandy Summit is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Summit
  • Seaman
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Seaman is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seaman
  • Sunflower
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Sunflower is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunflower
  • Windy
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Windy is located in Wirt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windy
  • Zackville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Zackville is located in Wirt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zackville

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

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

  • Ripley, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from McClain to Ripley, with an average speed<3> 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 44 miles [70.8 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 241 miles [387.9 km] to the east (E). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,080 miles [9,784.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,797 miles [10,938.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,672 miles [7,518.9 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 McClain 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 drawn from Point A (ie- McClain) 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 McClain 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 McClain. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.9948, Longitude: -81.5365       In this case, the coordinates for McClain have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.588 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.525 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.612 degrees.