RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kentucky >> Henry County >> Orville >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Orville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Orville and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Orville:
    • 38.398402, -84.915506
    • 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 Orville
  • 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 Henry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henry County
    • Since Orville is near Owen County and also Franklin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Owen County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin 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 Orville

Communities Also Named Orville ...

We found ten communities that are also named Orville.

Within Kentucky, the name Orville is unique.

Beyond Kentucky, we know of ten communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these ten communities, nine are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • La Paz County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in La Paz County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the La Paz County community of Orville.
    • Louisiana
      • East Feliciana Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Orville [East Feliciana Parish].
    • Manitoba
      • We haven't found the location of this community yet.
    • Michigan
      • Antrim 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 Orville [Antrim County].
      • Mackinac County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Orville [Mackinac County].
      • Saginaw County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Orville [Saginaw County].
    • North Carolina
      • Mecklenburg County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Orville [Mecklenburg County].
    • Oregon
      • Marion County
      • This Orville is located in Marion County and lies 2,003 miles [3,223.5 km]<3> to the west northwest of the Orville that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Orville.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Allegheny County
      • This Orville is located in Allegheny County and lies 311 miles [500.5 km]<3> to the east northeast of the Orville that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegheny County community of Orville.
    • West Virginia
      • Logan County
      • This Orville is located in Logan County and lies 169 miles [272 km]<3> to the east southeast of the Orville that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Logan County community of Orville.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Orville ...

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.

  • Elmburg
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Elmburg is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmburg
  • Elmville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Elmville is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmville
  • Flag Fork
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Flag Fork is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flag Fork
  • Harmony
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Harmony is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
  • Harvieland
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Harvieland is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harvieland
  • Lockport
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Lockport is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lockport
  • New
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • New is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New
  • North Pleasureville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • North Pleasureville is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Pleasureville
  • Peaks Mill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Peaks Mill is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peaks Mill
  • Pleasant Home
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Pleasant Home is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Home
  • Slabtown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Slabtown is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slabtown
  • Squiresville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Squiresville is located in Owen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Squiresville
  • Swallowfield
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Swallowfield is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swallowfield

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

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

  • New Castle, which is the Seat of Henry County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<3> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Orville to New Castle, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 13 miles [20.9 km] to the south (S). The buggy would take four to five hours and walking would take 6 hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 426 miles [685.6 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 17 days and walking would take 25 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,244 miles [10,048.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,966 miles [11,210.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,841 miles [7,790.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Orville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Orville 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Orville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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.
<5>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 Orville 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 Orville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.3984, Longitude: -84.9155       In this case, the coordinates for Orville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.684 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.832 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.288 degrees.