RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of South Dakota >> Deuel County >> Gary >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gary, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gary 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 Gary:
    • 44.795241, -96.458386
    • 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 Gary
  • 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 Deuel County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Deuel County
    • Since Gary is near Yellow Medicine County and also Lac qui Parle County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Yellow Medicine County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lac qui Parle 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 Gary

Communities Also Named Gary ...

We found fourteen communities that are also named Gary.

Within South Dakota, the name Gary is unique.

Beyond South Dakota, we know of fourteen communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Morgan County
      • This Gary is located in Morgan County and lies 487 miles [783.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Gary that is located in Deuel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morgan County community of Gary.
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Gary is located in Hillsborough County and lies 1,395 miles [2,245 km]<1> to the southeast of the Gary that is located in Deuel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Gary.
    • Georgia
      • Emanuel County
      • This Gary is located in Emanuel County and lies 1,134 miles [1,825 km]<1> to the southeast of the Gary that is located in Deuel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Emanuel County community of Gary.
      • Johnson 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 Georgia community of Gary [Johnson County].
    • Illinois
      • Cook County
      • This Gary is located in Cook County and lies 479 miles [770.9 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Gary that is located in Deuel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cook County community of Gary.
    • Indiana
      • Lake County
      • This Gary is located in Lake County and lies 508 miles [817.5 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Gary that is located in Deuel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lake County community of Gary.
    • Maryland
      • Howard County
      • This Gary is located in Howard County and lies 1,065 miles [1,714 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Gary that is located in Deuel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Howard County community of Gary.
    • Minnesota
      • Norman County
      • This Gary is located in Norman County and lies 178 miles [286.5 km]<1> to the north of the Gary that is located in Deuel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Norman County community of Gary.
      • Saint Louis County
      • This Gary is located in Saint Louis County and lies 241 miles [387.9 km] to the east northeast of the Gary that is located in Deuel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis County community of Gary.
    • New Mexico
      • Hidalgo County
      • This Gary is located in Hidalgo County and lies 1,086 miles [1,747.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Gary that is located in Deuel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hidalgo County community of Gary.
    • South Carolina
      • Newberry County
      • This Gary is located in Newberry County and lies 1,061 miles [1,707.5 km]<1> to the southeast of the Gary that is located in Deuel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Newberry County community of Gary.
    • Texas
      • Montgomery County
      • This Gary is located in Montgomery County and lies 999 miles [1,607.7 km]<1> to the south of the Gary that is located in Deuel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Gary.
    • Virginia
      • Lunenburg County
      • This Gary is located in Lunenburg County and lies 1,096 miles [1,763.8 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Gary that is located in Deuel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lunenburg County community of Gary.
    • West Virginia
      • McDowell County
      • This Gary is located in McDowell County and lies 928 miles [1,493.5 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Gary that is located in Deuel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McDowell County community of Gary.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gary ...

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.

  • Burr
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Burr is located in Yellow Medicine County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burr
  • Clear Lake
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Ivanhoe
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Ivanhoe is located in Lincoln County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanhoe
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 524 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ivanhoe <3>
  • Louisburg
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Louisburg is located in Lac qui Parle County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Louisburg
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 43 people
  • Providence
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Providence is located in Lac qui Parle County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
  • Spring Creek
    (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
    • Spring Creek is located in Yellow Medicine County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Creek
  • Strandburg
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)

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

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

  • Clear Lake, which is the Seat of Deuel County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Gary to Clear Lake, with an average speed<4> 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.
  • Pierre, which is the State Capital of South Dakota, lies 193 miles [310.6 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,075 miles [1,730 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 42 days and walking would take 61 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,334 miles [10,193.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,092 miles [11,413.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,011 miles [8,064.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Gary) 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 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 Gary 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'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 Gary 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 Gary. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.7952, Longitude: -96.4584       In this case, the coordinates for Gary have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.575 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 318.738 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.443 degrees.