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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Vollmer, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vollmer 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 Vollmer:
    • 38.547547, -87.520022
    • 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 Vollmer
  • 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 Knox County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Knox County
    • Since Vollmer is near Gibson County and also Lawrence County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gibson 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 Vollmer

Communities Also Named Vollmer ...

We found three communities that are also named Vollmer.

Within Indiana, the name Vollmer is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Latah 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 Idaho community of Vollmer [Latah County].
      • Lewis County
      • This Vollmer is located in Lewis County and lies 1,558 miles [2,507.4 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Vollmer that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lewis County community of Vollmer.
    • Texas
      • Harris 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 Texas community of Vollmer [Harris County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vollmer ...

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.

  • Cantaloupe
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Cantaloupe is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cantaloupe
  • Coats Spring
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Coats Spring is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coats Spring
  • Decker
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Decker is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Decker
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 244 people
  • Decker Chapel
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Decker Chapel is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Decker Chapel
  • Five Points
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Five Points is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Little Rock
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Little Rock is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Rock
  • Mount Olympus
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Mount Olympus is located in Gibson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Olympus
  • Sand Barrens
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Sand Barrens is located in Lawrence County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Barrens
  • Twin Bridges
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Twin Bridges is located in Knox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Bridges
  • Union
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Union is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union

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

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

  • Vincennes, which is the Seat of Knox County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Vollmer to Vincennes, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 111 miles [178.6 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 564 miles [907.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 22 days and walking would take 32 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,339 miles [10,201.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,067 miles [11,373.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,945 miles [7,958.2 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 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 Vollmer 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Vollmer) 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 Vollmer 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 Vollmer. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5475, Longitude: -87.5200       In this case, the coordinates for Vollmer have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.334 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.745 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.425 degrees.