RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Indiana >> Johnson County >> Smith Valley >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Smith Valley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Smith Valley 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 Smith Valley:
    • 39.605192, -86.197233
    • 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 Smith Valley
  • 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 Johnson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Johnson County
    • Since Smith Valley is near Marion County and also Morgan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marion County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Morgan 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 Smith Valley

Communities Also Named Smith Valley ...

We found two communities that are also named Smith Valley.

Within Indiana, the name Smith Valley is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Nevada
      • Lyon County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nevada community of Smith Valley [Lyon County].
    • New York
      • Schuyler County
      • This Smith Valley is located in Schuyler County and lies 529 miles [851.3 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Smith Valley that is located in Johnson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Schuyler County community of Smith Valley.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Smith Valley ...

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.

  • Bluff Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Clearview
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Clearview is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearview
  • Deerwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Deerwood is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerwood
  • Eagle Trace
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Eagle Trace is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Trace
  • El Dorado
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • El Dorado is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Dorado
  • Frances
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Frances is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frances
  • Glenns Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Glenns Valley is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenns Valley
  • Golden Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Golden Grove is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden Grove
  • Green Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Green Valley is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
  • Hunters Pointe
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Hunters Pointe is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Pointe
  • Imperial Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Imperial Hills is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Imperial Hills
  • Pebble Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Pebble Hills is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pebble Hills
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Pebble Run
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Pebble Run is located in Johnson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pebble Run
    • Stones Crossing
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Waters Edge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Waters Edge is located in Johnson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waters Edge
    • Willow Lakes
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Willow Lakes is located in Johnson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Lakes
    • Woodland Stream
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Woodland Stream is located in Johnson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Stream

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

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

  • Franklin, which is the Seat of Johnson County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Smith Valley to Franklin, with an average speed<3> 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 11 miles [17.7 km] to the north (N). The buggy would take nearly four hours and walking would take five to six hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 492 miles [791.8 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 20 days and walking would take 28 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,237 miles [10,037.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,966 miles [11,210.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,844 miles [7,795.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Smith Valley 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Smith Valley) 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 Smith Valley 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 Smith Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6052, Longitude: -86.1972    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.501 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.94 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.53 degrees.