RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Oregon >> Douglas County >> Nonpareil >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Nonpareil, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Nonpareil 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 Nonpareil:
    • 43.407619, -123.168126
    • 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 Nonpareil
  • 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 Douglas County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Douglas County
    • Since Nonpareil is near Lane County, we have provided a link to its eBird sighting report:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lane 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 Nonpareil

Communities Also Named Nonpareil ...

We found two communities that are also named Nonpareil.

Within Oregon, the name Nonpareil is unique.

Beyond Oregon, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Reno 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 Kansas community of Nonpareil [Reno County].
    • Nebraska
      • Box Butte County
      • This Nonpareil is located in Box Butte County and lies 1,011 miles [1,627 km]<2> to the east of the Nonpareil that is located in Douglas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Box Butte County community of Nonpareil.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Nonpareil ...

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.

  • Elkhead
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Elkhead is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhead
  • Fair Oaks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Fair Oaks is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Oaks
  • Glide
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Oak Creek ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Oak Creek is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Creek
  • Redbell
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Redbell is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redbell
  • Rice Hill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Rockland ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Rockland is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockland
  • Union Gap
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Union Gap is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Gap

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

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

  • Roseburg, which is the Seat of Douglas County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Nonpareil to Roseburg, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Salem, which is the State Capital of Oregon, lies 105 miles [169 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,387 miles [3,841.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 94 days and walking would take 136 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,060 miles [11,362 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,824 miles [12,591.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,927 miles [9,538.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<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 Nonpareil 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Nonpareil) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Nonpareil 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 Nonpareil. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.4076, Longitude: -123.1681       In this case, the coordinates for Nonpareil have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 341.325 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 342.755 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 328.539 degrees.