RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Ohio >> Gallia County >> Orchard Hill >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Orchard Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Orchard Hill 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 Orchard Hill:
    • 38.813970, -82.211536
    • 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 Orchard Hill
  • 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 Gallia County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gallia County
    • Since Orchard Hill is near Mason County and also Meigs County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mason County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Meigs 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 Orchard Hill

Communities Also Named Orchard Hill ...

We found six communities that are also named Orchard Hill.

Within Ohio, the name Orchard Hill is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Spalding County
      • This Orchard Hill is located in Spalding County and lies 404 miles [650.2 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Orchard Hill that is located in Gallia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Spalding County community of Orchard Hill.
    • Maryland
      • Kent County
      • This Orchard Hill is located in Kent County and lies 329 miles [529.5 km]<1> to the east of the Orchard Hill that is located in Gallia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kent County community of Orchard Hill.
    • Michigan
      • Alpena County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Orchard Hill [Alpena County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Westmoreland County
      • This Orchard Hill is located in Westmoreland County and lies 170 miles [273.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Orchard Hill that is located in Gallia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Westmoreland County community of Orchard Hill.
      • York County
      • This Orchard Hill is located in York County and lies 308 miles [495.7 km] to the east northeast of the Orchard Hill that is located in Gallia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the York County community of Orchard Hill.
    • South Carolina
      • Dorchester County
      • This Orchard Hill is located in Dorchester County and lies 414 miles [666.3 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Orchard Hill that is located in Gallia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dorchester County community of Orchard Hill.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Orchard Hill ...

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.

  • Evans Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Evans Heights is located in Gallia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evans Heights
  • Green Acres
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Green Acres is located in Gallia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Hedgewood
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Hedgewood is located in Gallia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hedgewood
  • Lawnview
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Lawnview is located in Gallia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lawnview
  • Mapleshade
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Mapleshade is located in Gallia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mapleshade
  • Meadow Look
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Meadow Look is located in Gallia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Look
  • Spring Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Spring Valley is located in Gallia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
  • Willow Woods
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Willow Woods is located in Gallia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Woods

How Far From Orchard Hill 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 Orchard Hill to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Gallipolis, which is the Seat of Gallia County, lies just to the East.
  • Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 90 miles [144.8 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Orchard Hill 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 278 miles [447.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,116 miles [9,842.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,833 miles [10,996.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,708 miles [7,576.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Orchard Hill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Orchard Hill 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.
<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 Orchard Hill 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 Orchard Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8140, Longitude: -82.2115       In this case, the coordinates for Orchard Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.006 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.975 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.967 degrees.