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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Tams, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Tams 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 Tams:
    • 37.664837, -81.307602
    • 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 Tams
  • 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 Raleigh County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Raleigh County
    • Since Tams is near Wyoming County and also Mercer 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 Mercer 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 Tams

Curious and Interesting Names Near Tams ...

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.

  • Affinity
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Affinity is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Affinity
  • Amigo
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Amigo is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amigo
  • Big Stick
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Big Stick is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Stick
  • Coal City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Coal City is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal City
  • Glen View
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Glen View is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen View
  • Glen White
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Glen White is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen White
  • Helen
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Helen is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helen
  • Hoohoo
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Hoohoo is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoohoo
  • Jenny Gap ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jenny Gap is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenny Gap
  • Josephine
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Josephine is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Josephine
  • Lego
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Lego is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lego
  • Lester
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Lester is located in Raleigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lester
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 312 people
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Lillybrook
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Lillybrook is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lillybrook
    • Maple Meadow
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Maple Meadow is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Meadow
    • Mead
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Mead is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mead
    • Princewick
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Princewick is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Princewick
    • Slab Fork
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Slab Fork is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slab Fork
    • Stonecoal Junction
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Stonecoal Junction is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonecoal Junction
    • Winding Gulf
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Winding Gulf is located in Raleigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winding Gulf

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Tams and extending to:

  • Beckley, which is the Seat of Raleigh County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Tams to Beckley, with an average speed<2> 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 50 miles [80.5 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 most of two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 246 miles [395.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,131 miles [9,866.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,841 miles [11,009.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,717 miles [7,591.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Tams) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Tams 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 Tams. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.6648, Longitude: -81.3076       In this case, the coordinates for Tams have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.477 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.202 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.944 degrees.