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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mount Alto, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mount Alto 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 Mount Alto:
    • 38.864527, -81.878191
    • 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 Mount Alto
  • 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 Mount Alto is near Meigs County and also Mason County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Meigs County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mason 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 Mount Alto

Communities Also Named Mount Alto ...

We found one communities that are also named Mount Alto.

Within West Virginia, the name Mount Alto is unique.

Beyond West Virginia, there is another community also named Mount Alto in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Virginia
      • Albemarle 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 Virginia community of Mount Alto [Albemarle County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mount Alto ...

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.

  • Antiquity
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Antiquity is located in Meigs County (OH)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Antiquity
  • Apple Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Apple Grove is located in Meigs County (OH)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apple Grove
  • Ash
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Ash is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ash
  • Board
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Board is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Board
  • Chestnut
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Chestnut is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut
  • Cottageville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Cottageville is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottageville
  • Evergreen Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Evergreen Hills is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Hills
  • Flatwoods
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Flatwoods is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatwoods
  • Huntsville ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Huntsville is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntsville
  • Longdale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Longdale is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longdale
  • Plants
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Plants is located in Meigs County (OH)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plants
  • Providence
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Providence is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
  • School House ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • School House is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for School House
  • Willow Grove ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Willow Grove is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Grove

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Mount Alto and extending to:

  • Ripley, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Mount Alto to Ripley, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 38 miles [61.2 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 260 miles [418.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,100 miles [9,817 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,817 miles [10,970.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,692 miles [7,551 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Mount Alto 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 '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- Mount Alto) 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 Mount Alto 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 Mount Alto. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8645, Longitude: -81.8782       In this case, the coordinates for Mount Alto have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.801 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.748 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.804 degrees.