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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Springton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Springton 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 Springton:
    • 37.455949, -81.244266
    • 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 Springton
  • 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:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mercer County
    • Since Springton is near Wyoming County and also McDowell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wyoming County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McDowell 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 Springton

Communities Also Named Springton ...

We found three communities that are also named Springton.

Within West Virginia, the name Springton is unique.

Beyond West Virginia, we know of three communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these three communities, one is located in the United States and the other two communities are located in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Springton.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Chester County
      • This Springton is located in Chester County and lies 345 miles [555.2 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Springton that is located in Mercer County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chester County community of Springton.
    • Prince Edward Island
      • This Springton lies 1,098 miles [1,767.1 km]<2> to the northeast of the Springton that is located in Mercer County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Springton ...

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.

  • Basin
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Basin is located in Wyoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Basin
  • Cherokee
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Cherokee is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee
  • Crumpler
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Crumpler is located in McDowell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crumpler
  • Flipping
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Flipping is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flipping
  • Goodwill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Goodwill is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodwill
  • Hiawatha
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Hiawatha is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hiawatha
  • Kale
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Kale is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kale
  • Rock
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Smokeless
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Smokeless is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smokeless
  • Spanishburg
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Widemouth ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Widemouth is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Widemouth

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

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

  • Princeton, which is the Seat of Mercer County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Springton to Princeton, 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 65 miles [104.6 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 249 miles [400.7 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,137 miles [9,876.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,847 miles [11,019.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,723 miles [7,600.9 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 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 Springton 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Springton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Springton 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 Springton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4559, Longitude: -81.2443       In this case, the coordinates for Springton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.443 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.132 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.983 degrees.