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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ragsdale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ragsdale 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 Ragsdale:
    • 38.745880, -87.325016
    • 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 Ragsdale
  • 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 Knox County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Knox County
    • Since Ragsdale is near Davies's County and also Lawrence County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Davies's 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 Ragsdale

Communities Also Named Ragsdale ...

We found five communities that are also named Ragsdale.

Within Indiana, the name Ragsdale is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Perry County
      • This Ragsdale is located in Perry County and lies 404 miles [650.2 km]<1> to the southwest of the Ragsdale that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Perry County community of Ragsdale.
    • Georgia
      • Dougherty County
      • This Ragsdale is located in Dougherty County and lies 527 miles [848.1 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Ragsdale that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dougherty County community of Ragsdale.
    • Kentucky
      • Graves 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 Ragsdale [Graves County].
    • Tennessee
      • Coffee County
      • This Ragsdale is located in Coffee County and lies 235 miles [378.2 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Ragsdale that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Coffee County community of Ragsdale.
    • Texas
      • Fannin 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 Ragsdale [Fannin County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ragsdale ...

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.

  • Bruceville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Edwardsport
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Edwardsport is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edwardsport
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 298 people
  • Five Points
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Five Points is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Freelandville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Freelandville is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freelandville
  • Graham
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Graham is located in Davies's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham
  • Indian Creek Settlement
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Johnstown
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Johnstown is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnstown
  • Jordan
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Jordan is located in Davies's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
  • Lettsville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Lettsville is located in Davies's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lettsville
  • Maysville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Maysville is located in Davies's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maysville
  • Wheatland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Wheatland is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheatland
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 469 people

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

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

  • Vincennes, which is the Seat of Knox County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Ragsdale to Vincennes, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 94 miles [151.3 km] to the northeast (NE). 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 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 553 miles [890 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 22 days and walking would take 32 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,322 miles [10,174.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,051 miles [11,347.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,928 miles [7,930.8 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 from Point A (ie- Ragsdale) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Ragsdale 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 Ragsdale 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 Ragsdale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.7459, Longitude: -87.3250       In this case, the coordinates for Ragsdale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.214 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.634 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.284 degrees.