RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Indiana >> Porter County >> Shady Side >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Indiana

The Commemorative Quarter for Indiana





Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Shady Side, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shady Side 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 Shady Side:
    • 41.616704, -87.143090
    • 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 Shady Side
  • 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 Shady Side ...

We found five communities that share the name Shady Side.

Within Indiana, the name Shady Side is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • Sussex County
      • This Shady Side is located in Sussex County and lies 659 miles [1,060.6 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Shady Side that is located in Porter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sussex County community of Shady Side.
    • Maryland
      • Anne Arundel County
      • This Shady Side is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 591 miles [951.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Shady Side that is located in Porter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of Shady Side.
    • Mississippi
      • Washington County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Washington County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Shady Side.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Mercer County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Shady Side [Mercer County].
    • Wisconsin
      • Walworth County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wisconsin community of Shady Side [Walworth County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Shady Side ...

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.

  • Chesterton
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Forest Oaks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forest Oaks have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Oaks
    • Forest Oaks is located in Porter County
  • Graham Woods
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Graham Woods have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham Woods
    • Graham Woods is located in Porter County
  • McCool
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McCool have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McCool
    • McCool is located in Porter County
  • Meadowbrook
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meadowbrook have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
    • Meadowbrook is located in Porter County
  • Portage
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Willow Creek
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Creek
    • Willow Creek is located in Porter County
  • Woodland Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woodland Village have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Village
    • Woodland Village is located in Porter County

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

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

  • Valparaiso, which is the Seat of Porter County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Shady Side to Valparaiso, with an average speed<6> 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 137 miles [220.5 km] to the south southeast (SSE). 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 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 564 miles [907.7 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving 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 6,177 miles [9,940.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,914 miles [11,127 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,796 miles [7,718.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Shady Side. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Porter County: www.porterco.org/

The official website for State of Indiana: https://www.in.gov

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- Shady Side) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Shady Side. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.6167, Longitude: -87.1431       In this case, the coordinates for Shady Side have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<2>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 Shady Side, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Shady Side 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.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<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 Shady Side 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 314.114 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.927 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.402 degrees.




 

Copyright 2024
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024