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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Talbott, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Talbott 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 Talbott:
    • 38.977047, -80.013411
    • 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 Talbott
  • 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 Barbour County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Barbour County
    • Since Talbott is near Randolph County and also Upshur County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Randolph County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Upshur 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 Talbott

Communities Also Named Talbott ...

We found three communities that are also named Talbott.

Within West Virginia, the name Talbott is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Fresno 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 California community of Talbott [Fresno County].
    • Illinois
      • Tazewell County
      • This Talbott is located in Tazewell County and lies 529 miles [851.3 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Talbott that is located in Barbour County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tazewell County community of Talbott.
    • Tennessee
      • Jefferson County
      • This Talbott is located in Jefferson County and lies 269 miles [432.9 km]<2> to the southwest of the Talbott that is located in Barbour County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Talbott.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Talbott ...

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.

  • Aggregates
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Aggregates is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aggregates
  • Five Forks
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Five Forks is located in Upshur County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Forks
  • Gage
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Gage is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gage
  • Jeff Scotts ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jeff Scotts is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jeff Scotts
  • Jimtown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jimtown is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jimtown
  • Jones
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jones is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones
  • Junior
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Junior is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Junior
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 483 people
  • Kingsville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Kingsville is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsville
  • Pumpkintown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Pumpkintown is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumpkintown
  • Roaring Creek Junction
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Skidmore ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Skidmore is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skidmore
  • Swamp Run
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Swamp Run is located in Upshur County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swamp Run
  • Vegan
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Vegan is located in Upshur County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vegan
  • Weaver
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Weaver is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weaver

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

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

  • Philippi, which is the Seat of Barbour County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Talbott to Philippi, with an average speed<3> 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 97 miles [156.1 km] to the west southwest (WSW). 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 159 miles [255.9 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<4> 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).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,731 miles [10,832.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,607 miles [7,414.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Talbott 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Talbott) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Talbott 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 Talbott. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.9770, Longitude: -80.0134       In this case, the coordinates for Talbott have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.662 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.468 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.954 degrees.