RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Indiana >> Whitley County >> Washington Center >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Washington Center, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Washington Center 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 Washington Center:
    • 41.048379, -85.509423
    • 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 Washington Center
  • 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 Whitley County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Whitley County
    • Since Washington Center is near Huntington County and also Allen County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Huntington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allen 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 Washington Center

Communities Also Named Washington Center ...

We found three communities that are also named Washington Center.

There is one other community in Indiana that is also named Washington Center.

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

  • Communities Located In Indiana ...
    • Noble County
      • This Washington Center is located in Noble County and lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Washington Center that is located in Whitley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Noble County community of Washington Center.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Washington 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 Kansas community of Washington Center [Washington County].
    • Missouri
      • Harrison County
      • This Washington Center is located in Harrison County and lies 454 miles [730.6 km]<1> to the west of the Washington Center that is located in Whitley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harrison County community of Washington Center.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Washington Center ...

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.

  • Bracken
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Bracken is located in Huntington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bracken
  • Five Points
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Five Points is located in Whitley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Forest Ridge
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Forest Ridge is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Ridge
  • Goblesville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Goblesville is located in Huntington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goblesville
  • Liberty Hills
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Liberty Hills is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Hills
  • Liberty Mills
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Liberty Mills is located in Wabash County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Mills
  • Luther
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Luther is located in Whitley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luther
  • Manor Woods
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Manor Woods is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manor Woods
  • Peabody
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Peabody is located in Whitley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peabody
  • Rolling Hills
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Rolling Hills is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Hills
  • Saturn
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Saturn is located in Whitley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saturn
  • Walnut Corners
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Walnut Corners is located in Whitley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Corners

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

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

  • Columbia City, which is the Seat of Whitley County, lies just to the North.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 94 miles [151.3 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Washington Center to Indianapolis, with an average speed<3>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 6 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 472 miles [759.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 19 days and walking would take 27 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,142 miles [9,884.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,875 miles [11,064.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,754 miles [7,650.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Washington Center) 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 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 Washington Center 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 Washington Center 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 Washington Center. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.0484, Longitude: -85.5094       In this case, the coordinates for Washington Center have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.052 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.635 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.782 degrees.