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 McDowell:
37.402893, -81.380380
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.
We found eight communities that share the name McDowell.
Within West Virginia, the name McDowell is unique.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another eight communities that are located throughout in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Alabama
Sumter County
This McDowell is located in Sumter County and lies 500 miles [804.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the McDowell that is located in McDowell County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sumter County community of McDowell.
Arizona
Maricopa County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arizona community of McDowell [Maricopa County].
Illinois
Livingston County
This McDowell is located in Livingston County and lies 452 miles [727.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the McDowell that is located in McDowell County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Livingston County community of McDowell.
Kentucky
Floyd County
This McDowell is located in Floyd County and lies 74 miles [119.1 km]<1> to the west of the McDowell that is located in McDowell County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Floyd County community of McDowell.
Missouri
Barry County
This McDowell is located in Barry County and lies 684 miles [1,100.8 km]<1> to the west of the McDowell that is located in McDowell County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Barry County community of McDowell.
Ohio
Wayne County
This community is historic<3> and although located in Wayne County, we don't know where within the county.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of McDowell.
Tennessee
Hamilton County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of McDowell [Hamilton County].
Virginia
Highland County
This McDowell is located in Highland County and lies 121 miles [194.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the McDowell that is located in McDowell County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Highland County community of McDowell.
Curious and Interesting Names Near McDowell ...
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.
Cherokee (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cherokee have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Coaldale. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
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 McDowell to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in McDowell and extending to:
Welch, which is the Seat of McDowell County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from McDowell to Welch, with an average speed<7> 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 66 miles [106.2 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 257 miles [413.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,145 miles [9,889.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,855 miles [11,032.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,731 miles [7,613.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>
Footnotes ...
<1>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- McDowell) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in McDowell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4029, Longitude: -81.3804 In this case, the coordinates for McDowell have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<2>
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 McDowell 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.
<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 McDowell, 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>
An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<6>
While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<7>
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.
<8>
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 McDowell to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<9>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.525 degrees.
<10>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.218 degrees.
<11>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.057 degrees.