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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mahon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mahon 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 Mahon:
    • 40.938658, -85.380530
    • 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 Mahon
  • 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 Huntington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Huntington County
    • Since Mahon is near Allen County and also Wells County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allen County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wells 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 Mahon

Communities Also Named Mahon ...

We found five communities that are also named Mahon.

Within Indiana, the name Mahon is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Leavenworth County
      • This Mahon is located in Leavenworth County and lies 522 miles [840.1 km]<1> to the west of the Mahon that is located in Huntington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Leavenworth County community of Mahon.
    • Kentucky
      • Marshall 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 Kentucky community of Mahon [Marshall County].
      • Whitley 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 Mahon [Whitley County].
    • Mississippi
      • Marshall County
      • This Mahon is located in Marshall County and lies 479 miles [770.9 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Mahon that is located in Huntington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marshall County community of Mahon.
    • Texas
      • Panola 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 Texas community of Mahon [Panola County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mahon ...

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.

  • Forest Ridge
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Forest Ridge is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Ridge
  • Goblesville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Goblesville is located in Huntington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goblesville
  • Greenwood
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Greenwood is located in Wells County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Kingsland
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Kingsland is located in Wells County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsland
  • Liberty Hills
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Liberty Hills is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Hills
  • Luther
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Luther is located in Whitley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luther
  • Manor Woods
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Manor Woods is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manor Woods
  • Peabody
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Peabody is located in Whitley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peabody
  • Rolling Hills
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Rolling Hills is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Hills
  • Saturn
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Saturn is located in Whitley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saturn
  • Times Corner
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Times Corner is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Times Corner

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

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

  • Huntington, which is the Seat of Huntington County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 90 miles [144.8 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Mahon to Indianapolis, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 463 miles [745.1 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 6,143 miles [9,886.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,874 miles [11,062.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,753 miles [7,649.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Mahon) 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 Mahon 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 Mahon 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 Mahon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.9387, Longitude: -85.3805       In this case, the coordinates for Mahon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.97 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.525 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.754 degrees.