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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rich Valley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rich Valley 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 Rich Valley:
    • 44.746078, -93.043825
    • 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 Rich Valley
  • 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 Rich Valley ...

We found four communities that share the name Rich Valley.

Within Minnesota, the name Rich Valley is unique.

Beyond Minnesota, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, three are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alberta
      • This Rich Valley lies 1,140 miles [1,834.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Rich Valley that is located in Dakota County.
    • Ohio
      • Noble County
      • This Rich Valley is located in Noble County and lies 680 miles [1,094.4 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Rich Valley that is located in Dakota County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Noble County community of Rich Valley.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Cameron County
      • This Rich Valley is located in Cameron County and lies 772 miles [1,242.4 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Rich Valley that is located in Dakota County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cameron County community of Rich Valley.
    • Virginia
      • Smyth 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 Virginia community of Rich Valley [Smyth County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rich Valley ...

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.

  • Antlers Park
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Antlers Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Antlers Park
    • Antlers Park is located in Dakota County
  • Apple Valley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Apple Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apple Valley
    • Apple Valley is located in Dakota County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 54,847 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Apple Valley <4>
  • Cedar Grove
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
    • Cedar Grove is located in Dakota County
  • Cottage Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Empire
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Empire have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire
    • Empire is located in Dakota County
  • Highwood
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Highwood. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highwood
    • Highwood is located in Ramsey County
  • Lakeville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Orchard Garden
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Orchard Garden have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchard Garden
    • Orchard Garden is located in Dakota County
  • Pine Bend
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pine Bend have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Bend
    • Pine Bend is located in Dakota County
  • Roseport
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Roseport have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseport
    • Roseport is located in Dakota County
  • Sunfish Lake
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunfish Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunfish Lake
    • Sunfish Lake is located in Dakota County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 551 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sunfish Lake <4>

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

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

  • Hastings, which is the Seat of Dakota County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Rich Valley to Hastings, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 14 miles [22.5 km] to the north (N). The buggy would take four to five hours and walking would take most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 915 miles [1,472.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 52 days.
  • The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,227 miles [10,021.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,981 miles [11,234.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,888 miles [7,866.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Rich Valley. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Dakota County: www.co.dakota.mn.us/

The official website for State of Minnesota: https://mn.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- Rich Valley) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rich Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.7461, Longitude: -93.0438       In this case, the coordinates for Rich Valley 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 Rich Valley 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>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>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.
<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 Rich Valley 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 318.139 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.949 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.581 degrees.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 21 Apr 2025