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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Syria, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Syria and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Syria:
    • 38.586166, -86.401653
    • 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 Syria
  • 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 Orange County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orange County
    • Since Syria is near Washington County and also Lawrence County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence 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 Syria

Communities Also Named Syria ...

We found two communities that are also named Syria.

Within Indiana, the name Syria is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Lincoln 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 Kansas community of Syria [Lincoln County].
    • Virginia
      • Madison County
      • This Syria is located in Madison County and lies 436 miles [701.7 km]<2> to the east of the Syria that is located in Orange County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Syria.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Syria ...

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.

  • Claysville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Claysville is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claysville
  • Lost River
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Lost River is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost River
  • Orangeville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Orangeville is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orangeville
  • Orleans
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Pumpkin Center
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Pumpkin Center is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumpkin Center
  • Stampers Creek
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Stampers Creek is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stampers Creek
  • Trotter Crossing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Trotter Crossing is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trotter Crossing
  • Woodlawn Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Woodlawn Grove is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn Grove

How Far From Syria to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Syria to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Paoli, which is the Seat of Orange County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 82 miles [132 km]<2> to the north (N). If you could drive a straight line from Syria to Indianapolis, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 504 miles [811.1 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,294 miles [10,129.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,020 miles [11,297.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,896 miles [7,879.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 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 Syria 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- Syria) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Syria 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 Syria. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5862, Longitude: -86.4017       In this case, the coordinates for Syria have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.622 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.934 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.905 degrees.