RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Indiana >> Wells County >> Dillman >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Dillman, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dillman 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 Dillman:
    • 40.610322, -85.428862
    • 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 Dillman
  • 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 Wells County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wells County
    • Since Dillman is near Grant County and also Blackford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grant County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Blackford 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 Dillman

Communities Also Named Dillman ...

We found two communities that are also named Dillman.

Within Indiana, the name Dillman is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Missouri
      • Dunklin County
      • This Dillman is located in Dunklin County and lies 396 miles [637.3 km]<1> to the southwest of the Dillman that is located in Wells County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dunklin County community of Dillman.
    • Wisconsin
      • Milwaukee 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 Wisconsin community of Dillman [Milwaukee County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dillman ...

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.

  • Buckeye
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Buckeye is located in Huntington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckeye
  • Five Points
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Five Points is located in Wells County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Friendly Corner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Friendly Corner is located in Grant County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendly Corner
  • Jeff
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jeff is located in Wells County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jeff
  • Keystone
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Keystone is located in Wells County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone
  • Liberty Center
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Liberty Center is located in Wells County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Center
  • Pleasant Plain
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Pleasant Plain is located in Huntington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Plain
  • Plum Tree
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Plum Tree is located in Huntington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum Tree
  • River
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • River is located in Huntington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River
  • Shadeland
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Shadeland is located in Grant County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadeland

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

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

  • Bluffton, which is the Seat of Wells County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Dillman to Bluffton, with an average speed<3> 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.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 69 miles [111 km] to the southwest (SW). 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 460 miles [740.3 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 18 days and walking would take 27 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,160 miles [9,913.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,891 miles [11,090 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,769 miles [7,675 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Dillman) 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 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 Dillman 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>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 Dillman 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 Dillman. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6103, Longitude: -85.4289       In this case, the coordinates for Dillman have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.005 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.518 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.876 degrees.