Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Zion, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Zion and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Zion
- 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 Zion:
- 38.773437, -80.264525
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Zion
- 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 Upshur County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Upshur County
- Since Zion is near Randolph County and also Webster County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Randolph County
- eBird sighting report for Webster 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Zion ...
We found 33 communities that share the name Zion.
Within West Virginia, the name Zion is unique.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another 33 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 33 communities, 32 are located in the United States and six are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Montgomery County
- This Zion is located in Montgomery County and lies 574 miles [923.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Zion that is located in Upshur County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Zion.
- Pickens County
- This Zion is located in Pickens County and lies 562 miles [904.5 km] to the southwest of the Zion that is located in Upshur County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pickens County community of Zion.
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Carroll County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Zion [Carroll County].
- Lake County
- This Zion is located in Lake County and lies 471 miles [758 km]<1> to the northwest of the Zion that is located in Upshur County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lake County community of Zion.
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Grant County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Zion [Grant County].
- Greenup County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Zion [Greenup County].
- Henderson County
- This Zion is located in Henderson County and lies 396 miles [637.3 km]<1> to the west of the Zion that is located in Upshur County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Henderson County community of Zion.
- Todd County
- This Zion is located in Todd County and lies 401 miles [645.3 km] to the west southwest of the Zion that is located in Upshur County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Todd County community of Zion.
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- New Jersey
- North Carolina
- Cleveland County
- This Zion is located in Cleveland County and lies 247 miles [397.5 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Zion that is located in Upshur County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cleveland County community of Zion.
- Iredell County
- This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Zion [Iredell County].
- Yadkin County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Zion [Yadkin County].
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- Adair County
- This Zion is located in Adair County and lies 815 miles [1,311.6 km]<1> to the west of the Zion that is located in Upshur County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Adair County community of Zion.
- Kingfisher County
- This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Oklahoma community of Zion [Kingfisher County].
- Ontario
- Pennsylvania
- Centre County
- This Zion is located in Centre County and lies 201 miles [323.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the Zion that is located in Upshur County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Centre County community of Zion.
- Franklin County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Zion [Franklin County].
- Luzerne County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Zion [Luzerne County].
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Alabama
Curious and Interesting Names Near Zion ...
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.
- Carter
(5 miles [8 km] to the north) - Chemical ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast) - Czar
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast) - Eden
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest) - Evergreen
(5 miles [8 km] to the north) - French Creek
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for French Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for French Creek
- French Creek is located in Upshur County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for French Creek <5>
- Hemlock
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Holly Grove
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holly Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Grove
- Holly Grove is located in Upshur County
- Imperial
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast) - Palace Valley
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Palace Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palace Valley
- Palace Valley is located in Upshur County
- Rock Cave
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Cave
- Rock Cave is located in Upshur County
- Sellers ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast) - Silica
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
How Far From Zion 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 Zion to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Zion and extending to:
- Buckhannon, which is the Seat of Upshur County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Zion to Buckhannon, with an average speed<6> 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 four to five hours.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 79 miles [127.1 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 173 miles [278.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,038 miles [9,717.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,750 miles [10,863.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,626 miles [7,444.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Zion. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Zion) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Zion. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.7734, Longitude: -80.2645 In this case, the coordinates for Zion have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 Zion, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 Zion 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. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Zion to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.821 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.618 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.133 degrees. |