RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Ohio >> Darke County >> Arcanum >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Arcanum, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Arcanum 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 Arcanum:
    • 39.992096, -84.554503
    • 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 Arcanum
  • 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 Darke County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Darke County
    • Since Arcanum is near Preble County and also Miami County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Preble County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Miami 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 Arcanum

Communities Also Named Arcanum ...

We found one communities that are also named Arcanum.

Within Ohio, the name Arcanum is unique.

Beyond Ohio, there is another community also named Arcanum in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Virginia
      • Buckingham County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Arcanum [Buckingham County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Arcanum ...

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.

  • Fourmans Corners
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Fourmans Corners is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fourmans Corners
  • Frys Corners
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Frys Corners is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frys Corners
  • Georgetown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Georgetown is located in Preble County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
  • Gordon
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Gordon is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 207 people
  • Ithaca
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Ithaca is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ithaca
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
  • Jaysville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Jaysville is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jaysville
  • Painter Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Painter Creek is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Painter Creek
  • Poplar Ridge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Poplar Ridge is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Ridge
  • Steel Point
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Steel Point is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steel Point
  • Union Corners
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Union Corners is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Corners
  • Weavers
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Weavers is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weavers

How Far From Arcanum to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a village such as Arcanum to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Arcanum and extending to:

  • Greenville, which is the Seat of Darke County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 82 miles [132 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Arcanum to Columbus, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 407 miles [655 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,155 miles [9,905.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,882 miles [11,075.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,759 miles [7,658.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Arcanum 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.
<2>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- Arcanum) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Arcanum 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 Arcanum. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.9921, Longitude: -84.5545       In this case, the coordinates for Arcanum have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.452 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.798 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.655 degrees.