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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Livonia, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Livonia 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 Livonia:
    • 38.554863, -86.277727
    • 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 Livonia
  • 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 Washington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Since Livonia is near Orange County and also Lawrence County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orange County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence 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 Livonia

Communities Also Named Livonia ...

We found six communities that are also named Livonia.

Within Indiana, the name Livonia is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Louisiana
      • Pointe Coupee Parish
      • This Livonia is located in Pointe Coupee Parish and lies 627 miles [1,009.1 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Livonia that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pointe Coupee Parish community of Livonia.
    • Michigan
      • Wayne County
      • This Livonia is located in Wayne County and lies 306 miles [492.5 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Livonia that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of Livonia.
    • Minnesota
      • Sherburne 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 Minnesota community of Livonia [Sherburne County].
    • Missouri
      • Putnam County
      • This Livonia is located in Putnam County and lies 367 miles [590.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Livonia that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Putnam County community of Livonia.
    • New York
      • Livingston County
      • This Livonia is located in Livingston County and lies 538 miles [865.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Livonia that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Livingston County community of Livonia.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Centre County
      • This Livonia is located in Centre County and lies 505 miles [812.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Livonia that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Centre County community of Livonia.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Livonia ...

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.

  • Claysville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Claysville is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claysville
  • Fredericksburg
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Highland
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Highland is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
  • Lost River
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Lost River is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost River
  • Organ Springs
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Organ Springs is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Organ Springs
  • Pumpkin Center
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Pumpkin Center is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumpkin Center
  • Rosebud
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Rosebud is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosebud
  • Shorts Corner
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Shorts Corner is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shorts Corner
  • Stampers Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Stampers Creek is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stampers Creek
  • Trotter Crossing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Trotter Crossing is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trotter Crossing
  • Woodlawn Grove
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Woodlawn Grove is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn Grove

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

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

  • Salem, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Livonia to Salem, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 83 miles [133.6 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 most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 498 miles [801.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 20 days and walking would take 29 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,290 miles [10,122.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,016 miles [11,291.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,892 miles [7,872.9 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Livonia) 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 Livonia 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 Livonia 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 Livonia. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5549, Longitude: -86.2777       In this case, the coordinates for Livonia have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.543 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.839 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.857 degrees.