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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Waveland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Waveland 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 Waveland:
    • 39.877797, -87.046078
    • 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 Waveland
  • 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 Montgomery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Since Waveland is near Parke County and also Putnam County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Parke County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Putnam 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 Waveland

Communities Also Named Waveland ...

We found six communities that are also named Waveland.

Within Indiana, the name Waveland is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Yell County
      • This Waveland is located in Yell County and lies 487 miles [783.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Waveland that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Yell County community of Waveland.
    • Florida
      • Saint Lucie County
      • This Waveland is located in Saint Lucie County and lies 954 miles [1,535.3 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Waveland that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Lucie County community of Waveland.
    • Kansas
      • Shawnee 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 Waveland [Shawnee County].
    • Massachusetts
      • Plymouth County
      • This Waveland is located in Plymouth County and lies 856 miles [1,377.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Waveland that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Plymouth County community of Waveland.
    • Michigan
      • Cheboygan 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 Waveland [Cheboygan County].
    • Mississippi
      • Hancock County
      • This Waveland is located in Hancock County and lies 675 miles [1,086.3 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Waveland that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hancock County community of Waveland.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Waveland ...

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.

  • Bethany
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Bethany is located in Parke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bethany
  • Deer Mill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Deer Mill is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Mill
  • Hibernia
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Hibernia is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hibernia
  • Lapland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Lapland is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lapland
  • Marshall
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Marshall is located in Parke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 315 people
  • Pin Hook
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Pin Hook is located in Parke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pin Hook
  • Raccoon
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Raccoon is located in Putnam County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raccoon
  • Sycamore Ford
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Sycamore Ford is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore Ford

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

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

  • Crawfordsville, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Waveland to Crawfordsville, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 47 miles [75.6 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 538 miles [865.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 21 days and walking would take 31 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,257 miles [10,069.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,988 miles [11,246.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,867 miles [7,832.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Waveland) 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 Waveland 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 Waveland 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 Waveland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.8778, Longitude: -87.0461       In this case, the coordinates for Waveland have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.049 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.606 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.851 degrees.