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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Riton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Riton 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 Riton:
    • 39.352842, -82.969624
    • 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 Riton
  • 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 Ross County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ross County
    • Since Riton is near Pickaway County and also Vinton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pickaway County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Vinton 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 Riton

Communities Also Named Riton ...

We found one communities that are also named Riton.

Within Ohio, the name Riton is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Wisconsin
      • Rock 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 Wisconsin community of Riton [Rock County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Riton ...

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.

  • Deadman Crossing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Deadman Crossing is located in Ross County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deadman Crossing
  • Franklin ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Franklin is located in Ross County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
  • Hopetown
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Hopetown is located in Ross County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopetown
  • Maple Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Maple Grove is located in Ross County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
  • Randall Terrace
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Randall Terrace is located in Ross County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randall Terrace
  • Slate Mills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Slate Mills is located in Ross County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slate Mills
  • Sulphur Lick
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Sulphur Lick is located in Ross County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sulphur Lick
  • Three Locks
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Three Locks is located in Ross County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Locks
  • View ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • View is located in Ross County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for View
  • Yankeetown
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Yankeetown is located in Ross County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yankeetown

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<2> community of Riton once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Riton and extending to:

  • Chillicothe, which is the Seat of Ross County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 42 miles [67.6 km]<3> to the north (N). If you could walk a straight line from Riton to Columbus, with an average speed<4> 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 just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 319 miles [513.4 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,122 miles [9,852.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,843 miles [11,012.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,718 miles [7,592.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Riton 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Riton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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- Riton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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.
<5>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 Riton 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 Riton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.3528, Longitude: -82.9696       In this case, the coordinates for Riton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.465 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.578 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.132 degrees.