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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Orland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Orland 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 Orland:
    • 41.730601, -85.172408
    • 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 Orland
  • 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 Orland is near LaGrange County and also Branch County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for LaGrange County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Branch 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 Orland

Communities Also Named Orland ...

We found seven communities that are also named Orland.

Within Indiana, the name Orland is unique.

Beyond Indiana, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these seven communities, six are located in the United States and three are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Glenn County
      • This Orland is located in Glenn County and lies 1,926 miles [3,099.6 km]<1> to the west of the Orland that is located in Steuben County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Glenn County community of Orland.
    • Georgia
      • Treutlen County
      • This Orland is located in Treutlen County and lies 656 miles [1,055.7 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Orland that is located in Steuben County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Treutlen County community of Orland.
    • Illinois
      • Cook 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 Illinois community of Orland [Cook County].
    • Maine
      • Hancock County
      • This Orland is located in Hancock County and lies 849 miles [1,366.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Orland that is located in Steuben County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hancock County community of Orland.
    • Ohio
      • Vinton County
      • This Orland is located in Vinton County and lies 216 miles [347.6 km]<1> to the southeast of the Orland that is located in Steuben County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Vinton County community of Orland.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Orland.
    • South Dakota
      • Lake County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Dakota community of Orland [Lake County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Orland ...

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.

  • Crooked Lake
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Crooked Lake is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crooked Lake
  • Flint
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Flint is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint
  • Glen Eden
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Glen Eden is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Eden
  • Greenfield Mills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Greenfield Mills is located in LaGrange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield Mills
  • Hatmaker
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Hatmaker is located in Branch County (MI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hatmaker
  • Indian Hills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Indian Hills is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
  • Jamestown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jamestown is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown
  • Lake James
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Lake James is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake James
  • Nevada Mills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Nevada Mills is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nevada Mills
  • Panama
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Panama is located in Steuben County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panama

How Far From Orland to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a town such as Orland to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Angola, which is the Seat of Steuben County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Orland to Angola, 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 145 miles [233.4 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 470 miles [756.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 19 days and walking would take 27 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,098 miles [9,813.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,831 miles [10,993.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,711 miles [7,581.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Orland) 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 Orland 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>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 Orland, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Orland 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 Orland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.7306, Longitude: -85.1724       In this case, the coordinates for Orland have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.821 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.471 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.407 degrees.