Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ballou, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ballou and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Ballou
- 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 Ballou:
- 40.199775, -84.060217
- 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 Ballou
- 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 Shelby County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Shelby County
- Since Ballou is near Champaign County and also Miami County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Champaign County
- 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Ballou ...
We found six communities that share the name Ballou.
There are two communities within Ohio that are also named Ballou.
Beyond Ohio, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Ohio ...
- Miami County
- Muskingum County
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Illinois
- Oklahoma
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ballou ...
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.
- Carysville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carysville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carysville
- Carysville is located in Champaign County
- Christiansburg
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Christiansburg have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Christiansburg
- Christiansburg is located in Champaign County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 503 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Christiansburg <4>
- Crayon
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east) - Lena
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lena
- Lena is located in Miami County
- Rosewood
(5 miles [8 km] to the east) - Sodom ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south) - Twin Lakes ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Twin Lakes have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Lakes
- Twin Lakes is located in Miami County
- Valentine ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
How Far From Ballou 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 Ballou to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Ballou and extending to:
- Sidney, which is the Seat of Shelby County, lies just to the Northwest.
- Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 58 miles [93.3 km]<2> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could walk a straight line from Ballou to Columbus, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 384 miles [618 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,126 miles [9,858.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,852 miles [11,027.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,729 miles [7,610.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Ballou. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Shelby County: www.co.shelby.oh.us/
The official website for State of Ohio: https://ohio.gov/
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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Ballou 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 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ballou) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ballou. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1998, Longitude: -84.0602 In this case, the coordinates for Ballou have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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> | 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 Ballou 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 312.136 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.467 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.362 degrees. |