Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in O'Brien, we use the following websites to find information relevant to O'Brien and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for O'Brien
- 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 O'Brien:
- 39.052323, -80.031190
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on O'Brien
- 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 Barbour County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Barbour County
- Since O'Brien is near Upshur County and also Randolph County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Upshur County
- eBird sighting report for Randolph 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named O'Brien ...
We found twelve communities that share the name O'Brien.
Within West Virginia, the name O'Brien is unique.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another twelve communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these twelve communities, ten are located in the United States and four are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Kansas
- Michigan
- Kent 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 O'Brien [Kent County].
- Ontonagon County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of O'Brien [Ontonagon County].
- Minnesota
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- This O'Brien lies 1,411 miles [2,270.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the O'Brien that is located in Barbour County.
- Ontario
- This O'Brien lies 700 miles [1,126.5 km]<1> to the north northwest of the O'Brien that is located in Barbour County.
- Oregon
- Texas
- Washington
Curious and Interesting Names Near O'Brien ...
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.
- Boulder
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west) - Century Junction
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Century Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Century Junction
- Century Junction is located in Barbour County
- Five Forks
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Five Forks have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Forks
- Five Forks is located in Upshur County
- Independence
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Independence have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence
- Independence is located in Barbour County
- Jones
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east) - Mount Liberty
(Less than 2 miles to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Liberty have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Liberty
- Mount Liberty is located in Barbour County
- Murphy
(5 miles [8 km] to the west) - Swamp Run
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest) - Union
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
- Union is located in Barbour County
- Valley Bend
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Bend
- Valley Bend is located in Barbour County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Valley Bend <4>
How Far From O'Brien 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 O'Brien to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<5> community of O'Brien once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in O'Brien and extending to:
- Philippi, which is the Seat of Barbour County, lies just to the North.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 98 miles [157.7 km]<1> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from O'Brien to Charleston, with an average speed<6>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 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 161 miles [259.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,016 miles [9,681.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,729 miles [10,829.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,604 miles [7,409.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/
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- O'Brien) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in O'Brien. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.0523, Longitude: -80.0312 In this case, the coordinates for O'Brien have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 O'Brien 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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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 O'Brien, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 O'Brien to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.67 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.488 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.936 degrees. |