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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Elroy, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Elroy 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 Elroy:
    • 40.206436, -84.709403
    • 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 Elroy
  • 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 Elroy is near Randolph County and also Jay County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Randolph County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jay 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 Elroy

Communities Also Named Elroy ...

We found five communities that are also named Elroy.

Within Ohio, the name Elroy is unique.

Beyond Ohio, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Adair 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 Kentucky community of Elroy [Adair County].
    • North Carolina
      • Wayne County
      • This Elroy is located in Wayne County and lies 500 miles [804.7 km]<2> to the southeast of the Elroy that is located in Darke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of Elroy.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Montgomery County
      • This Elroy is located in Montgomery County and lies 493 miles [793.4 km]<2> to the east of the Elroy that is located in Darke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Elroy.
    • Texas
      • Travis County
      • This Elroy is located in Travis County and lies 1,006 miles [1,619 km]<2> to the southwest of the Elroy that is located in Darke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Travis County community of Elroy.
    • Wisconsin
      • Juneau County
      • This Elroy is located in Juneau County and lies 375 miles [603.5 km]<2> to the northwest of the Elroy that is located in Darke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Juneau County community of Elroy.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Elroy ...

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.

  • Bucks Corner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Bucks Corner is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bucks Corner
  • Dawn
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Dawn is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawn
  • Haysville Corner
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Haysville Corner is located in Randolph County (IN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haysville Corner
  • Hill Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hill Grove is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill Grove
  • Lightsville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Lightsville is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lightsville
  • Mount Heron
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Mount Heron is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Heron
  • Mount Pleasant ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Pikeville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Pikeville is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pikeville
  • Roe Corners
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Roe Corners is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roe Corners
  • Rose Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Rose Hill is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Hill
  • Sharpeye
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Sharpeye is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sharpeye
  • Union City
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Union City is located in Darke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union City
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,585 people

How Far From Elroy to ...

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

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

  • Greenville, which is the Seat of Darke County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 91 miles [146.5 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Elroy 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 6 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 418 miles [672.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,151 miles [9,899.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,879 miles [11,070.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,756 miles [7,654 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 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 Elroy 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Elroy) 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 Elroy 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 Elroy. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.2064, Longitude: -84.7094       In this case, the coordinates for Elroy have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.548 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.939 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.662 degrees.