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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Monitor, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Monitor 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 Monitor:
    • 37.655956, -80.490348
    • 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 Monitor
  • 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 Monroe County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe County
    • Since Monitor is near Greenbrier County and also Summers County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greenbrier County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Summers 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 Monitor

Communities Also Named Monitor ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Monitor.

There is one other community in West Virginia that is also named Monitor.

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

  • Communities Located In West Virginia ...
    • Logan County
      • This Monitor is located in Logan County and lies 83 miles [133.6 km]<1> to the west of the Monitor that is located in Monroe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Logan County community of Monitor.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alberta
      • This Monitor lies 1,754 miles [2,822.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Monitor that is located in Monroe County.
    • Arizona
      • Yuma 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 Monitor [Yuma County].
    • Indiana
      • Tippecanoe County
      • This Monitor is located in Tippecanoe County and lies 386 miles [621.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Monitor that is located in Monroe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tippecanoe County community of Monitor.
    • Kansas
      • McPherson 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 Kansas community of Monitor [McPherson County].
    • Kentucky
      • Trimble County
      • This Monitor is located in Trimble County and lies 268 miles [431.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Monitor that is located in Monroe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Trimble County community of Monitor.
    • Michigan
      • Bay 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 Michigan community of Monitor [Bay County].
    • Nevada
      • Nye County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Nye County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nye County community of Monitor.
    • New Jersey
      • Hudson 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 New Jersey community of Monitor [Hudson County].
    • Oregon
      • Clackamas County
      • This Monitor is located in Clackamas County and lies 2,222 miles [3,576 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Monitor that is located in Monroe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clackamas County community of Monitor.
    • Virginia
      • Amherst County
      • This Monitor is located in Amherst County and lies 76 miles [122.3 km]<1> to the east of the Monitor that is located in Monroe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Amherst County community of Monitor.
    • Washington
      • Chelan County
      • This Monitor is located in Chelan County and lies 2,114 miles [3,402.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Monitor that is located in Monroe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chelan County community of Monitor.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Monitor ...

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.

  • Gap Mills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Gates
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Gates is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gates
  • Half Way
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Half Way is located in Greenbrier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Half Way
  • Hokes Mill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hokes Mill is located in Greenbrier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hokes Mill
  • Knobs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Knobs is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knobs
  • Organ Cave
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Organ Cave is located in Greenbrier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Organ Cave
  • Pickaway
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Pickaway is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickaway
  • Rockland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Rockland is located in Greenbrier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockland
  • Salt Sulphur Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Salt Sulphur Springs is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salt Sulphur Springs
  • Secondcreek
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Secondcreek is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Secondcreek
  • Sinks Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Sinks Grove is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sinks Grove
  • Snowflake
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Snowflake is located in Greenbrier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snowflake
  • Union
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Union is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 539 people
  • Wolfcreek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Wolfcreek is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolfcreek

How Far From Monitor to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Monitor to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Union, which is the Seat of Monroe County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 78 miles [125.5 km]<1> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Monitor to Charleston, with an average speed<5>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 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 205 miles [329.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,097 miles [9,812.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,805 miles [10,951.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,681 miles [7,533.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Monitor) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 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 Monitor 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 Monitor, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Monitor 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 Monitor. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.6560, Longitude: -80.4903       In this case, the coordinates for Monitor have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.989 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.643 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.603 degrees.