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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Southport, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Southport 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 Southport:
    • 39.276989, -86.761673
    • 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 Southport
  • 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 Owen County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Owen County
    • Since Southport is near Monroe County and also Greene County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greene 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 Southport

Communities Also Named Southport ...

We found seventeen communities that are also named Southport.

There is one other community in Indiana that is also named Southport.

Beyond Indiana, we know of sixteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these sixteen communities, fourteen are located in the United States and three are in Canada.

  • Communities Located In Indiana ...
    • Marion County
      • This Southport is located in Marion County and lies 43 miles [69.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Southport that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Southport.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Yolo 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 California community of Southport [Yolo County].
    • Connecticut
      • Fairfield County
      • This Southport is located in Fairfield County and lies 721 miles [1,160.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Southport that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfield County community of Southport.
    • Florida
      • Bay County
      • This Southport is located in Bay County and lies 623 miles [1,002.6 km]<1> to the south of the Southport that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bay County community of Southport.
    • Illinois
      • Peoria County
      • This Southport is located in Peoria County and lies 196 miles [315.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Southport that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Peoria County community of Southport.
    • Louisiana
      • Jefferson Parish
      • This Southport is located in Jefferson Parish and lies 671 miles [1,079.9 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Southport that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson Parish community of Southport.
    • Maine
      • Lincoln County
      • This Southport is located in Lincoln County and lies 936 miles [1,506.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Southport that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lincoln County community of Southport.
    • Manitoba
      • This Southport lies 925 miles [1,488.6 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Southport that is located in Owen County.
    • Michigan
      • Monroe 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 Michigan community of Southport [Monroe County].
    • New York
      • Chemung County
      • This Southport is located in Chemung County and lies 554 miles [891.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Southport that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chemung County community of Southport.
      • Suffolk County
      • This Southport is located in Suffolk County and lies 758 miles [1,219.9 km] to the east northeast of the Southport that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Suffolk County community of Southport.
    • Newfoundland and Labrador
      • This Southport lies 1,745 miles [2,808.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Southport that is located in Owen County.
    • North Carolina
      • Brunswick County
      • This Southport is located in Brunswick County and lies 608 miles [978.5 km]<1> to the southeast of the Southport that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Brunswick County community of Southport.
    • Oregon
      • Coos County
      • This Southport is located in Coos County and lies 1,946 miles [3,131.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Southport that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Coos County community of Southport.
    • Prince Edward Island
      • This Southport lies 1,285 miles [2,068 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Southport that is located in Owen County.
    • Tennessee
      • Maury County
      • This Southport is located in Maury County and lies 263 miles [423.3 km]<1> to the south of the Southport that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Maury County community of Southport.
    • Virginia
      • Prince William 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 Virginia community of Southport [Prince William County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Southport ...

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.

  • Carp
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Carp is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carp
  • Cataract
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Cataract is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cataract
  • Cuba
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Cuba is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuba
  • Farmers
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Farmers is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmers
  • Freedom
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Freedom is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freedom
  • Freeman
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Freeman is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
  • Jordan
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jordan is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
  • Patricksburg
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Patricksburg is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patricksburg
  • Pottersville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Pottersville is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pottersville

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

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

  • Spencer, which is the Seat of Owen County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 46 miles [74 km]<1> to the northeast (NE). If you could walk a straight line from Southport to Indianapolis, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 521 miles [838.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 21 days and walking would take 30 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,275 miles [10,098.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,004 miles [11,271.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,881 miles [7,855.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Southport) 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 Southport 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 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 Southport 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 Southport. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.2770, Longitude: -86.7617       In this case, the coordinates for Southport have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.861 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.305 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.883 degrees.