RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kentucky >> Grant County >> Dry Ridge >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Dry Ridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dry Ridge 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 Dry Ridge:
    • 38.677174, -84.600466
    • 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 Dry Ridge
  • 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 Grant County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grant County
    • Since Dry Ridge is near Pendleton County and also Gallatin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pendleton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gallatin 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 Dry Ridge

Communities Also Named Dry Ridge ...

We found two communities that are also named Dry Ridge.

Within Kentucky, the name Dry Ridge is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Bourbon 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 Kansas community of Dry Ridge [Bourbon County].
    • Ohio
      • Hamilton County
      • This Dry Ridge is located in Hamilton County and lies 40 miles [64.4 km]<2> to the north of the Dry Ridge that is located in Grant County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Dry Ridge.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dry Ridge ...

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.

  • Eagle Hill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Eagle Hill is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Hill
  • Flingsville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Flingsville is located in Grant County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flingsville
  • Four Corners
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Four Corners is located in Grant County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
  • Hilltop
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Hilltop is located in Grant County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Holiday Ford
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Holiday Ford is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Ford
  • Jonesville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Jonesville is located in Grant County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonesville
  • Locust Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Locust Grove is located in Pendleton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Grove
  • Marcus
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Marcus is located in Pendleton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marcus
  • Mason
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Mason is located in Grant County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason
  • Napoleon
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Napoleon is located in Gallatin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Napoleon
  • Needmore
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Needmore is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Needmore
  • Zion Station
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Zion Station is located in Grant County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion Station

How Far From Dry Ridge to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Dry Ridge to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Williamstown, which is the Seat of Grant County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 36 miles [57.9 km]<2> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could walk a straight line from Dry Ridge to Frankfort, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 407 miles [655 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,218 miles [10,006.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,941 miles [11,170.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,816 miles [7,750.6 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 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 Dry Ridge 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Dry Ridge) 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 Dry Ridge 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 Dry Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.6772, Longitude: -84.6005       In this case, the coordinates for Dry Ridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.488 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.648 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.068 degrees.