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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Indianapolis, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Indianapolis 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 Indianapolis:
    • 39.766971, -86.159922
    • 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 Indianapolis
  • 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 Marion County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marion County
    • Since Indianapolis is near Bartholomew County and also Johnson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bartholomew County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Johnson 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 Indianapolis

Communities Also Named Indianapolis ...

We found three communities that are also named Indianapolis.

Within Indiana, the name Indianapolis is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Mahaska County
      • This Indianapolis is located in Mahaska County and lies 347 miles [558.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Indianapolis that is located in Marion County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mahaska County community of Indianapolis.
    • Kansas
      • Miami 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 Kansas community of Indianapolis [Miami County].
    • Oklahoma
      • Custer County
      • This Indianapolis is located in Custer County and lies 752 miles [1,210.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Indianapolis that is located in Marion County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Custer County community of Indianapolis.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Indianapolis ...

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.

  • Chapel Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
  • Crossroad Temple
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Crossroad Temple is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossroad Temple
  • Crows Nest
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Crows Nest is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crows Nest
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 75 people
  • Five Points
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Five Points is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Flackville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Flackville is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flackville
  • Highwoods
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Highwoods is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highwoods
  • Homecroft
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Homecroft is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homecroft
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 764 people
  • Maywood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Maywood is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maywood
  • Mickleyville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Mickleyville is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mickleyville
  • North Crows Nest
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • North Crows Nest is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Crows Nest
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 47 people
  • Poplar Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Poplar Grove is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Grove
  • Rocky Ripple
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Rocky Ripple is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ripple
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 653 people
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Rosedale Hills
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Rosedale Hills is located in Marion County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosedale Hills
    • Shooters Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Shooters Hill is located in Marion County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shooters Hill
    • Speedway
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Sunnyview
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Sunnyview is located in Marion County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyview
    • Sunshine Gardens
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Sunshine Gardens is located in Marion County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunshine Gardens
    • University Heights
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • University Heights is located in Marion County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Heights

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

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

  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 490 miles [788.6 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Indianapolis to White House, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 28 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 20 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,228 miles [10,023 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,957 miles [11,196.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,835 miles [7,781.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Indianapolis) 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 Indianapolis 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Indianapolis 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 Indianapolis. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7670, Longitude: -86.1599    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.478 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.937 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.467 degrees.