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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Pleasants, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Pleasants 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 Pleasants:
    • 39.323965, -81.180391
    • 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 Pleasants
  • 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 Pleasants County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pleasants County
    • Since Pleasants is near Ritchie County and also Washington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ritchie County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington 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 Pleasants

Curious and Interesting Names Near Pleasants ...

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.

  • Cloverdale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Cloverdale is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
  • Crisp ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Crisp is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crisp
  • Eureka
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Eureka is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
  • Federal ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Federal is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Federal
  • Fern
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Fern is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fern
  • Finch
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Finch is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Finch
  • Grape Island
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Grape Island is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grape Island
  • Green Run
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Green Run is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Run
  • Horseneck
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Horseneck is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horseneck
  • League
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • League is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for League
  • Lone Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Lone Valley is located in Ritchie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Valley
  • Maxwell
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Maxwell is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxwell
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Murphy
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Murphy is located in Washington County (OH)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murphy
    • Nutter Farm
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Nutter Farm is located in Ritchie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nutter Farm
    • Pike
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Pike is located in Ritchie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pike
    • Sandhill
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Sandhill is located in Ritchie County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandhill
    • Schultz
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Schultz is located in Pleasants County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Schultz
    • Union Mills
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Union Mills is located in Pleasants County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Mills

How Far From Pleasants to ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Pleasants and extending to:

  • Saint Marys, which is the Seat of Pleasants County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 71 miles [114.3 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Pleasants to Charleston, with an average speed<2>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 4 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 223 miles [358.9 km] to the east (E). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,051 miles [9,738.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,768 miles [10,892 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,643 miles [7,472.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Pleasants) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Pleasants 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 Pleasants. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.3240, Longitude: -81.1804       In this case, the coordinates for Pleasants have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.361 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.315 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.345 degrees.