RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Indiana >> Posey County >> West Franklin >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Franklin, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Franklin 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 West Franklin:
    • 37.895042, -87.712797
    • 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 West Franklin
  • 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 Posey County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Posey County
    • Since West Franklin is near Vanderburgh County and also Henderson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Vanderburgh County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henderson 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 West Franklin

Communities Also Named West Franklin ...

We found four communities that are also named West Franklin.

Within Indiana, the name West Franklin is unique.

Beyond Indiana, we know of four communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, three are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maine
      • Hancock County
      • This West Franklin is located in Hancock County and lies 1,106 miles [1,779.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the West Franklin that is located in Posey County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hancock County community of West Franklin.
    • New Hampshire
      • Merrimack County
      • This West Franklin is located in Merrimack County and lies 921 miles [1,482.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the West Franklin that is located in Posey County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Merrimack County community of West Franklin.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of West Franklin.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Bradford County
      • This West Franklin is located in Bradford County and lies 643 miles [1,034.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the West Franklin that is located in Posey County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bradford County community of West Franklin.

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Franklin ...

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.

  • Cypress
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Cypress is located in Vanderburgh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cypress
  • Dead Mans Crossing
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Dead Mans Crossing is located in Posey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dead Mans Crossing
  • Erwin
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Erwin is located in Posey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erwin
  • Farmersville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Farmersville is located in Posey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmersville
  • Geneva
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Geneva is located in Henderson County (KY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
  • Graham Hill
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Graham Hill is located in Henderson County (KY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham Hill
  • Hepburn
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Hepburn is located in Posey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hepburn
  • Highland
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Highland is located in Vanderburgh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
  • King Mills
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • King Mills is located in Union County (KY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for King Mills
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Mechanicsville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Mechanicsville is located in Vanderburgh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsville
    • Mud Center
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Mud Center is located in Vanderburgh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mud Center
    • Oliver
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Oliver is located in Posey County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oliver
    • Red Bank
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Red Bank is located in Vanderburgh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bank
    • Rock Springs
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Rock Springs is located in Henderson County (KY)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Springs
    • Stringtown
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Stringtown is located in Vanderburgh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stringtown

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

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

  • Mount Vernon, which is the Seat of Posey County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from West Franklin to Mount Vernon, 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 153 miles [246.2 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 581 miles [935 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 33 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,378 miles [10,264.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,105 miles [11,434.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,981 miles [8,016.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- West Franklin) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 West Franklin 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 West Franklin 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 West Franklin. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.8950, Longitude: -87.7128       In this case, the coordinates for West Franklin have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.44 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.776 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.677 degrees.