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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Wasp, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wasp 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 Wasp:
    • 39.430076, -81.043999
    • 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 Wasp
  • 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 Pleasants County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pleasants County
    • Since Wasp is near Tyler County and also Washington 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 Washington 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 Wasp

Communities Also Named Wasp ...

We found two communities that are also named Wasp.

Within West Virginia, the name Wasp is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • North Carolina
      • Craven 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 North Carolina community of Wasp [Craven County].
    • Tennessee
      • Cocke County
      • This Wasp is located in Cocke County and lies 267 miles [429.7 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Wasp that is located in Pleasants County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cocke County community of Wasp.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Wasp ...

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.

  • Algeria ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Algeria is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Algeria
  • Beavertown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Beavertown is located in Washington County (OH)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beavertown
  • Bens Run
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Bens Run is located in Tyler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bens Run
  • Everett
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Everett is located in Tyler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Everett
  • Falls Mills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Falls Mills is located in Tyler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falls Mills
  • Federal ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Federal is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Federal
  • Little
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Little is located in Tyler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little
  • Long Reach
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Long Reach is located in Tyler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Reach
  • Meadville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Meadville is located in Tyler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadville
  • Plum Run
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Plum Run is located in Tyler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum Run
  • Point Lookout
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Point Lookout is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Lookout
  • Sugar Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Sugar Valley is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Valley
  • Twiggs
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Twiggs is located in Pleasants County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twiggs
  • Wick
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Wick is located in Tyler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wick

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

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

  • Saint Marys, which is the Seat of Pleasants County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 81 miles [130.4 km]<2> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Wasp to Charleston, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 217 miles [349.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,041 miles [9,722 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,758 miles [10,875.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,633 miles [7,456.1 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 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 Wasp 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 from Point A (ie- Wasp) 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 Wasp 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 Wasp. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.4301, Longitude: -81.0440       In this case, the coordinates for Wasp have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.274 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.232 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.249 degrees.