RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kentucky >> Shelby County >> Middletown Heights >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Middletown Heights, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Middletown Heights 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 Middletown Heights:
    • 38.215903, -85.242178
    • 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 Middletown Heights
  • 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 Shelby County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby County
    • Since Middletown Heights is near Spencer County and also Lawrence County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Spencer 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 Middletown Heights

Communities Also Named Middletown Heights ...

We found two communities that are also named Middletown Heights.

Within Kentucky, the name Middletown Heights is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Frederick County
      • This Middletown Heights is located in Frederick County and lies 421 miles [677.5 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Middletown Heights that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Frederick County community of Middletown Heights.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Delaware 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 Pennsylvania community of Middletown Heights [Delaware County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Middletown Heights ...

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.

  • Chestnut Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Chestnut Grove is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Grove
  • Christianburg
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Christianburg is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Christianburg
  • Clay Village
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Clay Village is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clay Village
  • Figgs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Figgs is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Figgs
  • Finchville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Finchville is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Finchville
  • Hemp Ridge
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Hemp Ridge is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hemp Ridge
  • Lincoln Ridge
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Lincoln Ridge is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Ridge
  • Mulberry
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Mulberry is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mulberry
  • Olive Branch
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Olive Branch is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olive Branch
  • Raymond Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Raymond Hill is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond Hill
  • Rivals
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Rivals is located in Spencer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rivals
  • Todds Point
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Todds Point is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Todds Point

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

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

  • Shelbyville, which is the Seat of Shelby County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could walk a straight line from Middletown Heights to Frankfort, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 445 miles [716.2 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 18 days and walking would take 26 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,265 miles [10,082.5 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 4,863 miles [7,826.2 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- Middletown Heights) 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 Middletown Heights 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 Middletown Heights 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 Middletown Heights. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.2159, Longitude: -85.2422       In this case, the coordinates for Middletown Heights have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.887 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.039 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.485 degrees.