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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Vinton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vinton 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 Vinton:
    • 38.227608, -80.993156
    • 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 Vinton
  • 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 Nicholas County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Nicholas County
    • Since Vinton is near Fayette County and also Clay County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clay 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 Vinton

Communities Also Named Vinton ...

We found thirteen communities that are also named Vinton.

Within West Virginia, the name Vinton is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Plumas County
      • This Vinton is located in Plumas County and lies 2,088 miles [3,360.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Vinton that is located in Nicholas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Plumas County community of Vinton.
    • Iowa
      • Benton County
      • This Vinton is located in Benton County and lies 641 miles [1,031.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Vinton that is located in Nicholas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Benton County community of Vinton.
    • Kansas
      • Cowley County
      • This Vinton is located in Cowley County and lies 867 miles [1,395.3 km]<1> to the west of the Vinton that is located in Nicholas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cowley County community of Vinton.
      • Riley County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Vinton [Riley County].
    • Louisiana
      • Calcasieu Parish
      • This Vinton is located in Calcasieu Parish and lies 906 miles [1,458.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Vinton that is located in Nicholas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Calcasieu Parish community of Vinton.
    • Mississippi
      • Clay County
      • This Vinton is located in Clay County and lies 525 miles [844.9 km]<1> to the southwest of the Vinton that is located in Nicholas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Vinton.
    • Missouri
      • Bates County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Bates County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bates County community of Vinton.
    • Nebraska
      • Valley County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nebraska community of Vinton [Valley County].
    • Ohio
      • Gallia County
      • This Vinton is located in Gallia County and lies 89 miles [143.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Vinton that is located in Nicholas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gallia County community of Vinton.
      • Vinton County
      • This Vinton is located in Vinton County and lies 104 miles [167.4 km] to the northwest of the Vinton that is located in Nicholas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Vinton County community of Vinton.
    • Quebec
      • This Vinton lies 567 miles [912.5 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Vinton that is located in Nicholas County.
    • Texas
      • El Paso County
      • This Vinton is located in El Paso County and lies 1,504 miles [2,420.5 km]<1> to the west of the Vinton that is located in Nicholas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the El Paso County community of Vinton.
    • Virginia
      • Roanoke County
      • This Vinton is located in Roanoke County and lies 89 miles [143.2 km]<1> to the southeast of the Vinton that is located in Nicholas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke County community of Vinton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vinton ...

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.

  • Burl
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Burl is located in Nicholas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burl
  • Elliot ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Elliot is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elliot
  • Jenky
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jenky is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenky
  • Lucas
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lucas is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lucas
  • Lyonsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Lyonsville is located in Nicholas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyonsville
  • Marvel
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Marvel is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marvel
  • Peters Junction
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Peters Junction is located in Nicholas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peters Junction
  • Poe
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Poe is located in Nicholas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poe
  • Sparks ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Sparks is located in Nicholas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparks
  • Woods Ferry
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Woods Ferry is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods Ferry

How Far From Vinton 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 Vinton 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 community of Vinton once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Vinton and extending to:

  • Summersville, which is the Seat of Nicholas County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 35 miles [56.3 km]<1> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could walk a straight line from Vinton to Charleston, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 218 miles [350.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,092 miles [9,804.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,804 miles [10,950 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,680 miles [7,531.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Vinton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Vinton 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.
<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 Vinton, 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 Vinton 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 Vinton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.2276, Longitude: -80.9932       In this case, the coordinates for Vinton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.277 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.056 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.629 degrees.