Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ritchie, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ritchie and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Ritchie
- 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 Ritchie:
- 30.451590, -92.466801
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Ritchie
- 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 parish-by-parish basis. We have selected Acadia Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Acadia Parish
- Since Ritchie is near Saint Landry Parish and also Evangeline Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Saint Landry Parish
- eBird sighting report for Evangeline Parish
- 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Ritchie ...
We found twelve communities that share the name Ritchie.
Within Louisiana, the name Ritchie is unique.
Beyond Louisiana, we know of another twelve communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these twelve communities, nine are located in the United States and three are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- British Columbia
- This Ritchie lies 2,439 miles [3,925.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Ritchie that is located in Acadia Parish.
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Maryland
- New Brunswick
- This Ritchie lies 1,719 miles [2,766.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the Ritchie that is located in Acadia Parish.
- North Carolina
- Pennsylvania
- Saskatchewan
- This Ritchie lies 1,462 miles [2,352.9 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Ritchie that is located in Acadia Parish.
- Tennessee
- Texas
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ritchie ...
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.
- Branch
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Branch have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Branch
- Branch is located in Acadia Parish
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Branch <4>
- Cartville ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south) - China
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west) - Elton
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elton
- Elton is located in Jefferson Davis Parish
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,134 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elton <4>
- Iota
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iota
- Iota is located in Acadia Parish
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,428 people
- Judd
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast) - Keystone
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south) - Maxie
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south) - Richard
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east) - Swords
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
How Far From Ritchie 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 community such as Ritchie to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<5> community of Ritchie once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Ritchie and extending to:
- Crowley, which is the Seat of Acadia Parish, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Ritchie to Crowley, with an average speed<6> 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 five to six hours.
- Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 78 miles [125.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,050 miles [1,689.8 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 41 days and walking would take 60 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,935 miles [11,160.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,649 miles [12,309.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,525 miles [8,891.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Louisiana: louisiana.gov/
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- Ritchie) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ritchie. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.4516, Longitude: -92.4668 In this case, the coordinates for Ritchie have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Ritchie 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 parish. 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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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 Ritchie, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Ritchie to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.849 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.561 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.094 degrees. |