Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Rock, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rock and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Rock
- 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 Rock:
- 37.367895, -81.222042
- 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 Rock
- 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 Mercer County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Mercer County
- Since Rock is near McDowell County and also Tazewell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for McDowell County
- eBird sighting report for Tazewell 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 Rock ...
We found 22 communities that share the name Rock.
There is one other community in West Virginia which is also named Rock.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another 21 communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In West Virginia ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Hernando 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 Florida community of Rock [Hernando County].
- Hillsborough County
- This Rock is located in Hillsborough County and lies 661 miles [1,063.8 km]<2> to the south of the Rock that is located in Mercer County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Rock.
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Cowley County
- This Rock is located in Cowley County and lies 864 miles [1,390.5 km]<2> to the west of the Rock that is located in Mercer County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cowley County community of Rock.
- Republic 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 Kansas community of Rock [Republic County].
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Grant Parish
- This Rock is located in Grant Parish and lies 766 miles [1,232.8 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Rock that is located in Mercer County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grant Parish community of Rock.
- Rapides Parish
- This Rock is located in Rapides Parish and lies 772 miles [1,242.4 km] to the west southwest of the Rock that is located in Mercer County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rapides Parish community of Rock.
- Sabine Parish
- 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 Louisiana community of Rock [Sabine Parish].
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
Curious and Interesting Names Near Rock ...
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.
- Abbs Valley ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Abbs Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Abbs Valley
- Abbs Valley is located in Mercer County
- Billie ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast) - Bluestone
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest) - Brush Fork
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brush Fork have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brush Fork
- Brush Fork is located in Mercer County
- Cherokee
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest) - Coaldale
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west) - Coopers
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coopers
- Coopers is located in Mercer County
- Edison
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edison
- Edison is located in Mercer County
- Flipping
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest) - Freeman
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
- Freeman is located in Mercer County
- Goodwill
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west) - Green Valley
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
- Green Valley is located in Mercer County
- Continue List (7 more) ...
- Hiawatha
(5 miles [8 km] to the north) - Kale
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast) - Littlesburg
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littlesburg
- Littlesburg is located in Mercer County
- Maple View
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maple View have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple View
- Maple View is located in Mercer County
- Sandlick
(Less than 2 miles to the south) - Smokeless
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north) - Widemouth ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Hiawatha
How Far From Rock 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 Rock to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Rock and extending to:
- Princeton, which is the Seat of Mercer County, lies just to the East.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 71 miles [114.3 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Rock to Charleston, with an average speed<5>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 250 miles [402.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
- The shortest distance<6> 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).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,849 miles [11,022.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,726 miles [7,605.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Rock. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/
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 Rock 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- Rock) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rock. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3679, Longitude: -81.2220 In this case, the coordinates for Rock have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Rock, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <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 Rock to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.431 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.105 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.002 degrees. |