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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Vandalia, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vandalia 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 Vandalia:
    • 39.312544, -86.866119
    • 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 Vandalia
  • 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 Vandalia is near Clay County and also Monroe County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clay County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe 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 Vandalia

Communities Also Named Vandalia ...

We found thirteen communities that are also named Vandalia.

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

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

  • Communities Located In Indiana ...
    • Clay 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 Indiana community of Vandalia [Clay County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Fayette County
      • This Vandalia is located in Fayette County and lies 121 miles [194.7 km]<2> to the west of the Vandalia that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Vandalia.
    • Iowa
      • Jasper County
      • This Vandalia is located in Jasper County and lies 371 miles [597.1 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Vandalia that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jasper County community of Vandalia.
    • Michigan
      • Cass County
      • This Vandalia is located in Cass County and lies 186 miles [299.3 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Vandalia that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cass County community of Vandalia.
    • Missouri
      • Audrain County
      • This Vandalia is located in Audrain County and lies 246 miles [395.9 km]<2> to the west of the Vandalia that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Audrain County community of Vandalia.
    • Montana
      • Valley County
      • This Vandalia is located in Valley County and lies 1,172 miles [1,886.2 km]<2> to the northwest of the Vandalia that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Valley County community of Vandalia.
    • New York
      • Cattaraugus County
      • This Vandalia is located in Cattaraugus County and lies 474 miles [762.8 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Vandalia that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cattaraugus County community of Vandalia.
    • North Carolina
      • Guilford County
      • This Vandalia is located in Guilford County and lies 449 miles [722.6 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Vandalia that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Guilford County community of Vandalia.
    • Ohio
      • Montgomery County
      • This Vandalia is located in Montgomery County and lies 147 miles [236.6 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Vandalia that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Vandalia.
    • Texas
      • Red River County
      • This Vandalia is located in Red River County and lies 596 miles [959.2 km]<2> to the southwest of the Vandalia that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Red River County community of Vandalia.
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha County
      • This Vandalia is located in Kanawha County and lies 287 miles [461.9 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Vandalia that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kanawha County community of Vandalia.
      • Lewis County
      • This Vandalia is located in Lewis County and lies 347 miles [558.4 km] to the east of the Vandalia that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lewis County community of Vandalia.
      • Roane County
      • This Vandalia is located in Roane County and lies 293 miles [471.5 km] to the east of the Vandalia that is located in Owen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roane County community of Vandalia.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vandalia ...

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.

  • Bowling Green
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Bowling Green is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowling Green
  • Carp
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Carp is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carp
  • Cataract
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Cataract is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cataract
  • Cuba
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Cuba is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuba
  • Denmark
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Denmark is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denmark
  • Farmers
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Farmers is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmers
  • Freedom
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Freedom is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freedom
  • Hickory Corner
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Hickory Corner is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Corner
  • Jordan
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jordan is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
  • Marion Mills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Marion Mills is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marion Mills
  • Patricksburg
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Patricksburg is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patricksburg
  • Pottersville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Pottersville is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pottersville

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

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

  • Spencer, which is the Seat of Owen County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 48 miles [77.2 km]<2> to the northeast (NE). If you could walk a straight line from Vandalia 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 527 miles [848.1 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 6,277 miles [10,101.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,006 miles [11,275.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,884 miles [7,860 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 Vandalia 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' (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- Vandalia) 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 Vandalia 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 Vandalia. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.3125, Longitude: -86.8661       In this case, the coordinates for Vandalia have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.928 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.387 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.921 degrees.