Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Van, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Van and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Van
- 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 Van:
- 40.502553, -83.615207
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Van
- 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 Logan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Logan County
- Since Van is near Hardin County and also Union County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Hardin County
- eBird sighting report for Union 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Van ...
We found fourteen communities that share the name Van.
There is one other community in Ohio which is also named Van.
Beyond Ohio, we know of another thirteen communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Ohio ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Van ...
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.
- Big Springs
(Less than 2 miles to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Big Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Springs
- Big Springs is located in Logan County
- Cherokee ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest) - Grassy Point
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grassy Point have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grassy Point
- Grassy Point is located in Hardin County
- Harper
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest) - Huntsville
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Huntsville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntsville
- Huntsville is located in Logan County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 441 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Huntsville <5>
- Jumbo
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest) - Mount Victory
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Victory
- Mount Victory is located in Hardin County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 603 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mount Victory <5>
- New Jerusalem
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Jerusalem have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Jerusalem
- New Jerusalem is located in Logan County
- Silver Creek
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Silver Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Creek
- Silver Creek is located in Hardin County
- Walnut Grove
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Walnut Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove
- Walnut Grove is located in Logan County
How Far From Van 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 Van to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Van and extending to:
- Bellefontaine, which is the Seat of Logan County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Van to Bellefontaine, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 48 miles [77.2 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 366 miles [589 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take 6 hours, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 21 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,095 miles [9,809 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,821 miles [10,977.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,698 miles [7,560.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Van. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Logan County: www.co.logan.oh.us/
The official website for State of Ohio: https://ohio.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Van, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Van) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Van. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5026, Longitude: -83.6152 In this case, the coordinates for Van have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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 Van 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. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Van to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.848 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.183 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.06 degrees. |