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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Shipshewana, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shipshewana 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 Shipshewana:
    • 41.675472, -85.576570
    • 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 Shipshewana
  • 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 LaGrange County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for LaGrange County
    • Since Shipshewana is near Elkhart County and also Saint Joseph County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Elkhart County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Joseph 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 Shipshewana

Curious and Interesting Names Near Shipshewana ...

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.

  • Breezy Beach
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Breezy Beach is located in Saint Joseph County (MI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Breezy Beach
  • Emma
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Emma is located in LaGrange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emma
  • Honeyville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Honeyville is located in LaGrange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honeyville
  • Klingers
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Klingers is located in Saint Joseph County (MI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Klingers
  • Sandy Beach
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Sandy Beach is located in Saint Joseph County (MI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Beach
  • Star Mill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Star Mill is located in LaGrange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Star Mill
  • Stony Creek
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Stony Creek is located in LaGrange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Creek
  • Twin Lakes
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Twin Lakes is located in LaGrange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Lakes
  • White Pigeon
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Shipshewana and extending to:

  • LaGrange, which is the Seat of LaGrange County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 135 miles [217.3 km]<2> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Shipshewana 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 488 miles [785.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 19 days and walking would take 28 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,115 miles [9,841.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,850 miles [11,024 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,730 miles [7,612.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Shipshewana) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Shipshewana 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 Shipshewana. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.6755, Longitude: -85.5766       In this case, the coordinates for Shipshewana have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.086 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.764 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.62 degrees.