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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Woodyard, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Woodyard and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Woodyard:
    • 38.668425, -81.480401
    • 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 Woodyard
  • 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 Roane County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Roane County
    • Since Woodyard is near Jackson County and also Kanawha County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kanawha 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 Woodyard

Communities Also Named Woodyard ...

We found three communities that are also named Woodyard.

Within West Virginia, the name Woodyard is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Edgar County
      • This Woodyard is located in Edgar County and lies 340 miles [547.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Woodyard that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Edgar County community of Woodyard.
      • Fayette 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 Illinois community of Woodyard [Fayette County].
    • Maryland
      • Prince George's County
      • This Woodyard is located in Prince George's County and lies 249 miles [400.7 km]<1> to the east of the Woodyard that is located in Roane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Prince George's County community of Woodyard.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Woodyard ...

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.

  • Advent
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Advent is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Advent
  • Countsville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Countsville is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Countsville
  • Flatfork
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Flatfork is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatfork
  • Flint Town
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Flint Town is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint Town
  • Geneva
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Geneva is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
  • Harmony
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Harmony is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
  • Jingo ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jingo is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jingo
  • July ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • July is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for July
  • Mattie ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Mattie is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mattie
  • Mount Hope
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Mount Hope is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
  • Red Knob
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Red Knob is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Knob
  • Vicars
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Vicars is located in Roane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vicars

How Far From Woodyard 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 Woodyard 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<3> community of Woodyard once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Woodyard and extending to:

  • Spencer, which is the Seat of Roane County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Woodyard to Spencer, with an average speed<4> 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 23 miles [37 km] to the south southwest (SSW). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 239 miles [384.6 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,093 miles [9,805.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,808 miles [10,956.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,683 miles [7,536.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Woodyard) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Woodyard 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 Woodyard, 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 Woodyard 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 Woodyard. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.6684, Longitude: -81.4804       In this case, the coordinates for Woodyard have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.562 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.447 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.694 degrees.