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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in McRoss, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McRoss 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 McRoss:
- 37.990143, -80.747219
- 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 McRoss
- 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 Greenbrier County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Greenbrier County
- Since McRoss is near Fayette County and also Nicholas County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Nicholas 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 McRoss
Curious and Interesting Names Near McRoss ...
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.
- Crag
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Crag is located in Greenbrier County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crag
- Dennis
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Dennis is located in Greenbrier County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dennis
- Farmdale
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Farmdale is located in Greenbrier County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmdale
- Honeydew ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Honeydew is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honeydew
- Leslie
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Leslie is located in Greenbrier County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leslie
- Lilly Park
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Lilly Park is located in Greenbrier County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lilly Park
- Maywood
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Orient Hill
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Rock Cliff
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Rock Cliff is located in Greenbrier County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Cliff
- Sturgeon Branch ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Sturgeon Branch is located in Fayette County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sturgeon Branch
How Far From McRoss 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 McRoss to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in McRoss and extending to:
- Lewisburg, which is the Seat of Greenbrier County, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from McRoss to Lewisburg, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 53 miles [85.3 km] to the west northwest (WNW). 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 210 miles [338 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 12 days.
- The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,093 miles [9,805.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,803 miles [10,948.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,679 miles [7,530.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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- McRoss) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <2> | 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. |
| <3> | 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 McRoss 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 McRoss. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9901, Longitude: -80.7472 |
| <4> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.135 degrees. |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.859 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.602 degrees. |
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