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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Shenango, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shenango 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 Shenango:
    • 39.585358, -80.687040
    • 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 Shenango
  • 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 Wetzel County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wetzel County
    • Since Shenango is near Tyler County and also Monroe County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tyler County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe 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 Shenango

Communities Also Named Shenango ...

We found two communities that are also named Shenango.

Within West Virginia, the name Shenango is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Pennsylvania
      • Lawrence 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 Pennsylvania community of Shenango [Lawrence County].
      • Mercer County
      • This Shenango is located in Mercer County and lies 124 miles [199.6 km]<2> to the north of the Shenango that is located in Wetzel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mercer County community of Shenango.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Shenango ...

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.

  • Big Run
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Big Run is located in Wetzel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Run
  • Carbide
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Carbide is located in Wetzel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carbide
  • Childs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Childs is located in Wetzel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Childs
  • Dean
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Dean is located in Wetzel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dean
  • Five Points ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Five Points is located in Wetzel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Four Mile
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Four Mile is located in Wetzel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Mile
  • Green Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Green Hill is located in Wetzel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Hill
  • Halls Mills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Halls Mills is located in Wetzel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls Mills
  • King
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • King is located in Wetzel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for King
  • Kingstown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Kingstown is located in Wetzel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingstown
  • Minnie
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Minnie is located in Wetzel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minnie
  • Porters Falls
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Porters Falls is located in Wetzel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porters Falls
  • Reader
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Reader is located in Wetzel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reader
  • Wheat
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Wheat is located in Wetzel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheat

How Far From Shenango 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 Shenango 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<3> community of Shenango once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Shenango and extending to:

  • New Martinsville, which is the Seat of Wetzel County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Shenango to New Martinsville, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 99 miles [159.3 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 200 miles [321.9 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,019 miles [9,686.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,736 miles [10,840.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,611 miles [7,420.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Shenango 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Shenango) 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 Shenango, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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.
<5>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 Shenango 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 Shenango. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.5854, Longitude: -80.6870       In this case, the coordinates for Shenango have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.049 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.00 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.038 degrees.