RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Ohio >> Clark County >> Mad River >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mad River, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mad River 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 Mad River:
    • 39.895893, -83.924932
    • 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 Mad River
  • 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 Clark County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clark County
    • Since Mad River is near Greene County and also Miami County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greene 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 Mad River

Communities Also Named Mad River ...

We found one communities that are also named Mad River.

Within Ohio, the name Mad River is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Trinity 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 California community of Mad River [Trinity County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mad River ...

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.

  • Crystal Lakes
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Crystal Lakes is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lakes
  • Durbin
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Durbin is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Durbin
  • Green Hedges
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Green Hedges is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Hedges
  • Green Meadows
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Green Meadows is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Meadows
  • Hennessee ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hennessee is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hennessee
  • Hennessey ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Hennessey is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hennessey
  • Holiday Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Holiday Valley is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Valley
  • Karen Woods
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Karen Woods is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Karen Woods
  • Limestone City
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Limestone City is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Limestone City
  • Oakgrove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Oakgrove is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oakgrove
  • Possum Woods
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Possum Woods is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Possum Woods
  • Rock Way
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Rock Way is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Way
  • Sunnyland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Sunnyland is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyland
  • Upper Fox Hollow
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Upper Fox Hollow is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Fox Hollow

How Far From Mad River 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 community such as Mad River to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Springfield, which is the Seat of Clark County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 49 miles [78.9 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could walk a straight line from Mad River to Columbus, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 373 miles [600.3 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 6 hours, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,135 miles [9,873.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,860 miles [11,040.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,736 miles [7,621.9 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 Mad River 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Mad River) 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 Mad River 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 Mad River. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.8959, Longitude: -83.9249       In this case, the coordinates for Mad River have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.055 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.33 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.395 degrees.