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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Moonlight, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Moonlight 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 Moonlight:
    • 41.584495, -85.031077
    • 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 Moonlight
  • 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 Steuben County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Steuben County
    • Since Moonlight is near DeKalb County and also LaGrange County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DeKalb County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for LaGrange 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 Moonlight

Communities Also Named Moonlight ...

We found four communities that are also named Moonlight.

Within Indiana, the name Moonlight is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Dickinson County
      • This Moonlight is located in Dickinson County and lies 659 miles [1,060.6 km]<1> to the west of the Moonlight that is located in Steuben County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dickinson County community of Moonlight.
      • Stevens 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 Moonlight [Stevens County].
    • Virginia
      • Greensville County
      • This Moonlight is located in Greensville County and lies 523 miles [841.7 km]<1> to the southeast of the Moonlight that is located in Steuben County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greensville County community of Moonlight.
      • Isle of Wight County
      • This Moonlight is located in Isle of Wight County and lies 543 miles [873.9 km] to the east southeast of the Moonlight that is located in Steuben County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Isle of Wight County community of Moonlight.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Moonlight ...

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.

  • Cold Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Cold Springs is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Springs
  • Crooked Lake
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Crooked Lake is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crooked Lake
  • Flint
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Flint is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint
  • Forest Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Forest Park is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Park
  • Fountain Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Fountain Park is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountain Park
  • Glen Eden
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Glen Eden is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Eden
  • Indian Hills
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Indian Hills is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
  • Island Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Island Park is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island Park
  • Pleasant Lake
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Pleasant Lake is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Lake
  • Russels Point
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Russels Point is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russels Point
  • Turkey Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Turkey Creek is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Creek

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

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

  • Angola, which is the Seat of Steuben County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 138 miles [222.1 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Moonlight to Indianapolis, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 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 6,099 miles [9,815.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,832 miles [10,995 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,711 miles [7,581.6 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Moonlight) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Moonlight 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 Moonlight 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 Moonlight. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5845, Longitude: -85.0311       In this case, the coordinates for Moonlight have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.733 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.349 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.385 degrees.