Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Rolla, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rolla and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Rolla
- 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 Rolla:
- 37.945391, -91.760396
- 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 Rolla
- 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 Phelps County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Phelps County
- Since Rolla is near Maries County and also Dent County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Maries County
- eBird sighting report for Dent 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Rolla ...
We found eight communities that share the name Rolla.
Within Missouri, the name Rolla is unique.
Beyond Missouri, we know of another eight communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, seven are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- British Columbia
- This Rolla lies 1,801 miles [2,898.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Rolla that is located in Phelps County.
- Colorado
- Kansas
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Texas
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Rolla ...
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.
- Austria ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast) - De Camp ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east) - Dean Ford
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Flag Spring
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Flag Spring have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flag Spring
- Flag Spring is located in Phelps County
- Jerome
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerome
- Jerome is located in Phelps County
- Lake Spring
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Spring have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Spring
- Lake Spring is located in Dent County
- Safe
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast) - Signal ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest) - Sugartree
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west) - Table Rock
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Table Rock have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Table Rock
- Table Rock is located in Phelps County
- Yancy Mills
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Yancy Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yancy Mills
- Yancy Mills is located in Phelps County
How Far From Rolla 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 city such as Rolla to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Rolla and extending to:
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 798 miles [1,284.3 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Rolla to White House, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 46 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 32 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,529 miles [10,507.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,266 miles [11,693.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,147 miles [8,283.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Rolla: www.rollanet.org/
The official website for Phelps County: www.phelpscounty.org/
The official website for State of Missouri: https://www.mo.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 from Point A (ie- Rolla) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rolla. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9454, Longitude: -91.7604 In this case, the coordinates for Rolla have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 Rolla, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Rolla 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. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Rolla to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.069 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.812 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.532 degrees. |