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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Whitmer, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Whitmer 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 Whitmer:
    • 38.812304, -79.548556
    • 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 Whitmer
  • 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 Randolph County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Randolph County
    • Since Whitmer is near Pendleton County and also Tucker County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pendleton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tucker 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 Whitmer

Communities Also Named Whitmer ...

We found one communities that are also named Whitmer.

Within West Virginia, the name Whitmer is unique.

Beyond West Virginia, there is another community also named Whitmer in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Pennsylvania
      • Centre 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 Pennsylvania community of Whitmer [Centre County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Whitmer ...

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.

  • Cheat Junction
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Cheat Junction is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cheat Junction
  • Circleville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Dryfork
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Elk River Junction
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Elk River Junction is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk River Junction
  • Evenwood
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Flint
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Flint is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint
  • Job
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Job is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Job
  • Key ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Key is located in Pendleton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Key
  • Little Italy
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Little Italy is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Italy
  • Macksville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Meadows
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Meadows is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadows
  • Perlytown ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Perlytown is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perlytown
  • Stringtown ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Stringtown is located in Tucker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stringtown
  • Wyoming ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Wyoming is located in Tucker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyoming

How Far From Whitmer to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Whitmer to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Whitmer and extending to:

  • Elkins, which is the Seat of Randolph County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<3> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Whitmer to Elkins, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 116 miles [186.7 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 135 miles [217.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,007 miles [9,667.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,717 miles [10,810 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,593 miles [7,391.7 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 Whitmer 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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- Whitmer) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Whitmer 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 Whitmer. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8123, Longitude: -79.5486    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.389 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.131 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.812 degrees.