Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in McDowell, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McDowell and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for McDowell
- 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 McDowell:
- 37.402893, -81.380380
- 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 McDowell
- 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 McDowell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for McDowell County
- Since McDowell is near Mercer County and also Wyoming County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Mercer County
- eBird sighting report for Wyoming 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 McDowell ...
We found eight communities that share the name McDowell.
Within West Virginia, the name McDowell is unique.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another eight communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Illinois
- Kentucky
- Missouri
- Ohio
- Tennessee
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near McDowell ...
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.
- Cherokee
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east) - Clark ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west) - Coaldale
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast) - Crumpler
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast) - Elkhorn
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhorn
- Elkhorn is located in McDowell County
- Keystone
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Keystone have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone
- Keystone is located in McDowell County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 213 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Keystone <5>
- Switchback
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Switchback have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Switchback
- Switchback is located in McDowell County
- Worth
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
How Far From McDowell to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as McDowell to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in McDowell and extending to:
- Welch, which is the Seat of McDowell County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from McDowell to Welch, with an average speed<6> 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 66 miles [106.2 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 257 miles [413.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,145 miles [9,889.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,855 miles [11,032.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,731 miles [7,613.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for McDowell. 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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- McDowell) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in McDowell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4029, Longitude: -81.3804 In this case, the coordinates for McDowell have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 McDowell 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 McDowell, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 McDowell 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 310.525 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.218 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.057 degrees. |