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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Philothea, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Philothea 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 Philothea:
    • 40.450602, -84.653570
    • 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 Philothea
  • 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 Mercer County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mercer County
    • Since Philothea is near Darke County and also Jay County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Darke 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 Philothea

Curious and Interesting Names Near Philothea ...

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.

  • Bass Landing
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Bass Landing is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bass Landing
  • Chickasaw
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Club Island
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Club Island is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Club Island
  • Coldwater
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Coldwater Beach
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Coldwater Beach is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coldwater Beach
  • Cranberry Prairie
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Cranberry Prairie is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cranberry Prairie
  • Durbin
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Durbin is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Durbin
  • Fort Recovery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Harbor Point
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Harbor Point is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor Point
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Lees Landing
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Lees Landing is located in Mercer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees Landing
    • Mariners Point
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Mariners Point is located in Mercer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mariners Point
    • Montezuma
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Montezuma is located in Mercer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montezuma
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 158 people
    • Noble
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Noble is located in Jay County (IN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noble
    • Striptown ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Striptown is located in Mercer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Striptown
    • Turtle Neck Point
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Turtle Neck Point is located in Mercer County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turtle Neck Point

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

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

  • Celina, which is the Seat of Mercer County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 93 miles [149.7 km]<2> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Philothea 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 southeast (ESE). 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 6,138 miles [9,878.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,866 miles [11,049.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,743 miles [7,633.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 drawn from Point A (ie- Philothea) 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 Philothea 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 Philothea. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.4506, Longitude: -84.6536       In this case, the coordinates for Philothea have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.51 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.93 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.561 degrees.