Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Melcher, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Melcher and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Melcher
- 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 Melcher:
- 39.792817, -87.337238
- 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 Melcher
- 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 Parke County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Parke County
- Since Melcher is near Vermillion County and also Edgar County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Vermillion County
- eBird sighting report for Edgar 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 Melcher ...
We found one communities that share the name Melcher.
Within Indiana, the name Melcher is unique.
Beyond Indiana, there is another community also named Melcher in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near Melcher ...
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.
- Arabia
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast) - Coke Oven Hollow
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coke Oven Hollow have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coke Oven Hollow
- Coke Oven Hollow is located in Parke County
- Early Station
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Early Station have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Early Station
- Early Station is located in Vermillion County
- Highland
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Highland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
- Highland is located in Vermillion County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Highland <3>
- Montezuma
(Less than 2 miles to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Montezuma have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montezuma
- Montezuma is located in Parke County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 977 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Montezuma <3>
- Montezuma Station
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Montezuma Station have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montezuma Station
- Montezuma Station is located in Vermillion County
- Pottertown ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pottertown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pottertown
- Pottertown is located in Parke County
- Rockport
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast) - Rockville
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rockville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockville
- Rockville is located in Parke County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,449 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rockville <3>
- Summit Grove
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit Grove
- Summit Grove is located in Vermillion County
How Far From Melcher 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 Melcher to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of Melcher once stood, the straight-line distance<5> beginning in Melcher and extending to:
- Rockville, which is the Seat of Parke County, lies just to the East Southeast.
- Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 62 miles [99.8 km]<5> to the east (E). If you could walk a straight line from Melcher to Indianapolis, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 553 miles [890 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 22 days and walking would take 32 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,272 miles [10,093.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,004 miles [11,271.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,883 miles [7,858.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Indiana: https://www.in.gov
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Melcher 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. |
| <2> | 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. |
| <3> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | 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 Melcher, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <5> | 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- Melcher) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Melcher. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7928, Longitude: -87.3372 In this case, the coordinates for Melcher have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Melcher 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 314.237 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.809 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.011 degrees. |