Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Sandy, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sandy and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Sandy
- 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 Sandy:
- 39.269606, -79.961515
- 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 Sandy
- 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 Taylor County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Taylor County
- Since Sandy is near Barbour County and also Preston County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Barbour County
- eBird sighting report for Preston 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 Sandy ...
We found 23 communities that share the name Sandy.
There are three communities within West Virginia that are also named Sandy.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another twenty communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In West Virginia ...
- Jackson County
- Kanawha County
- Monongalia County
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Georgia
- Butts County
- This Sandy is located in Butts County and lies 470 miles [756.4 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Sandy that is located in Taylor County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butts County community of Sandy.
- Jefferson 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 Georgia community of Sandy [Jefferson County].
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- Huron 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 Michigan community of Sandy [Huron County].
- Montcalm 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 Sandy [Montcalm County].
- Nebraska
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Fentress County
- This Sandy is located in Fentress County and lies 346 miles [556.8 km]<2> to the southwest of the Sandy that is located in Taylor County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fentress County community of Sandy.
- Hardeman 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 Tennessee community of Sandy [Hardeman County].
- Johnson County
- This Sandy is located in Johnson County and lies 222 miles [357.3 km] to the south southwest of the Sandy that is located in Taylor County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Johnson County community of Sandy.
- Texas
- Blanco County
- This Sandy is located in Blanco County and lies 1,212 miles [1,950.5 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Sandy that is located in Taylor County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Blanco County community of Sandy.
- Limestone County
- This Sandy is located in Limestone County and lies 1,071 miles [1,723.6 km] to the west southwest of the Sandy that is located in Taylor County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Limestone County community of Sandy.
- Willacy County
- This Sandy is located in Willacy County and lies 1,357 miles [2,183.9 km] to the southwest of the Sandy that is located in Taylor County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Willacy County community of Sandy.
- Utah
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Sandy ...
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.
- Blueville
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest) - Cecil
(Less than 2 miles to the west) - Cove Run
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast) - Cove Run Station ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cove Run Station have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cove Run Station
- Cove Run Station is located in Barbour County
- Dent
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east) - Elliotsville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elliotsville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elliotsville
- Elliotsville is located in Taylor County
- Fox Hall ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Knottsville
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knottsville
- Knottsville is located in Taylor County
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Knottsville
- From Sandy to Knottsville
- Maple Run
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast) - Moatsville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Moatsville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moatsville
- Moatsville is located in Barbour County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Moatsville <4>
- Pleasant Creek ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Pleasant Creek. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Creek
- Pleasant Creek is located in Barbour County
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Pleasant Creek
- From Sandy to Pleasant Creek
- Stone House ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Stone House. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone House
- Stone House is located in Taylor County
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Stone House
- From Sandy to Stone House
How Far From Sandy 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 Sandy 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<6> community of Sandy once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Sandy and extending to:
- Grafton, which is the Seat of Taylor County, lies just to the North Northwest.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 109 miles [175.4 km]<2> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Sandy to Charleston, with an average speed<7>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 158 miles [254.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 9 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,004 miles [9,662.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,717 miles [10,810 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,593 miles [7,391.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Sandy 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Sandy) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sandy. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.2696, Longitude: -79.9615 In this case, the coordinates for Sandy have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <6> | 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 Sandy, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <7> | 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. |
| <8> | 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 Sandy to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.619 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.463 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.829 degrees. |