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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • 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 Potomac:
    • 40.152686, -80.529312
    • 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 Potomac
  • 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 Ohio County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ohio County
    • Since Potomac is near Washington County and also Brooke County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Brooke 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 Potomac

Communities Also Named Potomac ...

We found ten communities that are also named Potomac.

There is one other community in West Virginia that is also named Potomac.

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

  • Communities Located In West Virginia ...
    • Mineral 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 West Virginia community of Potomac [Mineral County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Vermilion County
      • This Potomac is located in Vermilion County and lies 383 miles [616.4 km]<2> to the west of the Potomac that is located in Ohio County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Vermilion County community of Potomac.
    • Kansas
      • Linn County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Linn County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Linn County community of Potomac.
    • Maryland
      • Allegany County
      • This Potomac is located in Allegany County and lies 98 miles [157.7 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Potomac that is located in Ohio County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegany County community of Potomac.
      • Montgomery County
      • This Potomac is located in Montgomery County and lies 193 miles [310.6 km] to the east southeast of the Potomac that is located in Ohio County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Potomac.
    • Montana
      • Missoula County
      • This Potomac is located in Missoula County and lies 1,704 miles [2,742.3 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Potomac that is located in Ohio County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Missoula County community of Potomac.
    • Nevada
      • Nye County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Nye County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nye County community of Potomac.
    • Virginia
      • Alexandria City
      • 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 Potomac [Alexandria City].
      • Prince William 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 Virginia community of Potomac [Prince William County].
      • Stafford County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Potomac [Stafford County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Potomac ...

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.

  • Beech Bottom
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Bethany
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Betty Zane
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Betty Zane is located in Ohio County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Betty Zane
  • Claysville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Clearview
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Clearview is located in Ohio County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearview
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 481 people
  • Coon Island
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Eden
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Eden is located in Ohio County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
  • Franklin
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Franklin is located in Brooke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
  • Frogtown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Frogtown is located in Washington County (PA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frogtown
  • Independence
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Independence is located in Washington County (PA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence
  • Mount Echo
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Mount Echo is located in Ohio County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Echo
  • Power
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Power is located in Brooke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Power
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Short Creek
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Short Creek is located in Brooke County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Short Creek
    • Stringer
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Stringer is located in Jefferson County (OH)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stringer
    • Twilight
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Twilight is located in Ohio County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twilight
    • Valley Camp
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Valley Camp is located in Marshall County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Camp
    • Valley Grove
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)

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

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

  • Wheeling, which is the Seat of Ohio County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Potomac to Wheeling, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 137 miles [220.5 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 205 miles [329.9 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,988 miles [9,636.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,706 miles [10,792.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,581 miles [7,372.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 Potomac 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- Potomac) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Potomac, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Potomac 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 Potomac. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1527, Longitude: -80.5293       In this case, the coordinates for Potomac have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.929 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.949 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.768 degrees.