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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Newfound, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Newfound 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 Newfound:
    • 37.607335, -81.476493
    • 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 Newfound
  • 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 Wyoming County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wyoming County
    • Since Newfound is near Raleigh County and also McDowell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Raleigh County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McDowell 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 Newfound

Communities Also Named Newfound ...

We found two communities that are also named Newfound.

Within West Virginia, the name Newfound is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Clay 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 Kentucky community of Newfound [Clay County].
    • North Carolina
      • Buncombe County
      • This Newfound is located in Buncombe County and lies 154 miles [247.8 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Newfound that is located in Wyoming County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Buncombe County community of Newfound.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Newfound ...

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.

  • Blackeagle
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Blackeagle is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackeagle
  • Bud
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Bud is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bud
  • Glen Fork
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Glen Fork is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Fork
  • Glover
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Glover is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glover
  • Itmann
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Itmann is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Itmann
  • Jesse
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jesse is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jesse
  • Joe Branch
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Joe Branch is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joe Branch
  • Keyrock
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Keyrock is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keyrock
  • Polk Gap
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Polk Gap is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polk Gap
  • Ravencliff
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Ravencliff is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravencliff
  • Rock View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Rock View is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock View
  • Turkey
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Turkey is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey
  • Wyoming
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Wyoming is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyoming

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

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

  • Pineville, which is the Seat of Wyoming County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 51 miles [82.1 km]<2> to the north (N). If you could walk a straight line from Newfound to Charleston, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 256 miles [412 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,140 miles [9,881.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,851 miles [11,025.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,727 miles [7,607.4 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 Newfound 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Newfound) 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 Newfound 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 Newfound. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.6073, Longitude: -81.4765       In this case, the coordinates for Newfound have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.58 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.31 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.033 degrees.