RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative Quarter for Minnesota





Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in New Prairie, we use the following websites to find information relevant to New Prairie 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 New Prairie:
    • 45.608350, -95.639779
    • 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 New Prairie
  • 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

Curious and Interesting Names Near New Prairie ...

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.

  • Alberta
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Farwell
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Farwell have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farwell
    • Farwell is located in Pope County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 52 people
  • Grove Lake
    (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
  • Herman
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Long Beach
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Beach
    • Long Beach is located in Pope County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 417 people
  • Nelson
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nelson have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nelson
    • Nelson is located in Douglas County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 192 people
  • Starbuck
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Swift Falls
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Terrace
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Terrace have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terrace
    • Terrace is located in Pope County

How Far From New Prairie 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 New Prairie 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<4> community of New Prairie once stood, the straight-line distance<5> beginning in New Prairie and extending to:

  • Glenwood, which is the Seat of Pope County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<5> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from New Prairie to Glenwood, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 131 miles [210.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). 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 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,054 miles [1,696.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 42 days and walking would take 60 days.
  • The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,265 miles [10,082.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,024 miles [11,304 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,944 miles [7,956.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>

The official website for Pope County: www.mncounties3.org/pope/

The official website for State of Minnesota: https://mn.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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 New Prairie, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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- New Prairie) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in New Prairie. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.6084, Longitude: -95.6398    
<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 New Prairie 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 319.996 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 318.18 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.792 degrees.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 21 Apr 2025