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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Morning Star:
    • 38.774811, -81.455400
    • 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 Morning Star
  • 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:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Roane County
    • Since Morning Star is near Jackson County and also Wirt County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wirt 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 Morning Star

Communities Also Named Morning Star ...

We found nine communities that are also named Morning Star.

Within West Virginia, the name Morning Star is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Garland 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 Arkansas community of Morning Star [Garland County].
      • Greene County
      • This Morning Star is located in Greene County and lies 526 miles [846.5 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Morning Star that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greene County community of Morning Star.
      • Hot Spring County
      • This Morning Star is located in Hot Spring County and lies 703 miles [1,131.4 km] to the west southwest of the Morning Star that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hot Spring County community of Morning Star.
      • Phillips County
      • This Morning Star is located in Phillips County and lies 604 miles [972 km] to the west southwest of the Morning Star that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Phillips County community of Morning Star.
      • Searcy County
      • This Morning Star is located in Searcy County and lies 640 miles [1,030 km] to the west southwest of the Morning Star that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Searcy County community of Morning Star.
    • Mississippi
      • Hinds County
      • This Morning Star is located in Hinds County and lies 683 miles [1,099.2 km]<2> to the southwest of the Morning Star that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hinds County community of Morning Star.
    • North Carolina
      • Haywood County
      • This Morning Star is located in Haywood County and lies 237 miles [381.4 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Morning Star that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Haywood County community of Morning Star.
    • Ohio
      • Meigs County
      • This Morning Star is located in Meigs County and lies 30 miles [48.3 km]<2> to the northwest of the Morning Star that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Meigs County community of Morning Star.
    • Virginia
      • Page County
      • This Morning Star is located in Page County and lies 166 miles [267.2 km]<2> to the east of the Morning Star that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Page County community of Morning Star.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Morning Star ...

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.

  • Buffalo ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Buffalo is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo
  • Clarence
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Clarence is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarence
  • Countsville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Countsville is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Countsville
  • Flatfork
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Flatfork is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatfork
  • Flint Town
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Flint Town is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint Town
  • Gay
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Gay is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gay
  • Geneva
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Geneva is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
  • Green Acres
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Acres is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Jingo ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jingo is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jingo
  • Leaning Oak
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Leaning Oak is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leaning Oak
  • Leo ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Leo is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leo
  • Marshall
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Marshall is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Quiet Vale
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Quiet Vale is located in Roane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quiet Vale
    • Red Knob
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Red Knob is located in Roane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Knob
    • Reedyville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Reedyville is located in Roane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reedyville
    • Speed
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Speed is located in Roane County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Speed

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

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

  • Spencer, which is the Seat of Roane County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 30 miles [48.3 km]<2> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could walk a straight line from Morning Star to Charleston, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 237 miles [381.4 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,087 miles [9,796.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,802 miles [10,946.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,677 miles [7,526.9 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 Morning Star 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Morning Star) 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 Morning Star 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 Morning Star. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.7748, Longitude: -81.4554       In this case, the coordinates for Morning Star have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.544 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.442 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.649 degrees.