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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Shanghai, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shanghai 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 Shanghai:
    • 40.446193, -86.328309
    • 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 Shanghai
  • 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 Howard County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Howard County
    • Since Shanghai is near Clinton County and also Carroll County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clinton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Carroll 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 Shanghai

Communities Also Named Shanghai ...

We found nine communities that are also named Shanghai.

Within Indiana, the name Shanghai is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Limestone County
      • This Shanghai is located in Limestone County and lies 388 miles [624.4 km]<1> to the south of the Shanghai that is located in Howard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Limestone County community of Shanghai.
    • Illinois
      • Warren 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 Shanghai [Warren County].
    • Missouri
      • Camden County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Camden County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Camden County community of Shanghai.
      • Vernon County
      • Although located in Vernon County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Vernon County community of Shanghai.
    • North Carolina
      • Cleveland County
      • This Shanghai is located in Cleveland County and lies 440 miles [708.1 km]<1> to the southeast of the Shanghai that is located in Howard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cleveland County community of Shanghai.
      • Sampson County
      • This Shanghai is located in Sampson County and lies 592 miles [952.7 km] to the southeast of the Shanghai that is located in Howard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sampson County community of Shanghai.
    • Texas
      • Wharton County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Wharton County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wharton County community of Shanghai.
    • Virginia
      • King and Queen County
      • This Shanghai is located in King and Queen County and lies 548 miles [881.9 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Shanghai that is located in Howard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the King and Queen County community of Shanghai.
    • West Virginia
      • Berkeley County
      • This Shanghai is located in Berkeley County and lies 439 miles [706.5 km]<1> to the east of the Shanghai that is located in Howard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Berkeley County community of Shanghai.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Shanghai ...

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.

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

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

  • Kokomo, which is the Seat of Howard County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Shanghai to Kokomo, with an average speed<5> 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 47 miles [75.6 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 505 miles [812.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 20 days and walking would take 29 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,202 miles [9,981.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,934 miles [11,159.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,813 miles [7,745.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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- Shanghai) 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 Shanghai 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 Shanghai, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Shanghai 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 Shanghai. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.4462, Longitude: -86.3283       In this case, the coordinates for Shanghai have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.587 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.158 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.351 degrees.