RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Utah >> Salt Lake County >> Laurel Ridge >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Laurel Ridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Laurel Ridge 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 Laurel Ridge:
    • 40.581337, -111.987160
    • 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 Laurel Ridge
  • 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 Salt Lake County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Salt Lake County
    • Since Laurel Ridge is near Utah County and also Tooele County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Utah County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tooele 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 Laurel Ridge

Communities Also Named Laurel Ridge ...

We found five communities that are also named Laurel Ridge.

Within Utah, the name Laurel Ridge is unique.

Beyond Utah, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Louisiana
      • Iberville Parish
      • This Laurel Ridge is located in Iberville Parish and lies 1,372 miles [2,208 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Laurel Ridge that is located in Salt Lake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Iberville Parish community of Laurel Ridge.
    • New York
      • Orange County
      • This Laurel Ridge is located in Orange County and lies 1,956 miles [3,147.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Laurel Ridge that is located in Salt Lake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Orange County community of Laurel Ridge.
    • Ohio
      • Stark 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 Ohio community of Laurel Ridge [Stark County].
    • Tennessee
      • Bradley County
      • This Laurel Ridge is located in Bradley County and lies 1,516 miles [2,439.8 km]<1> to the east of the Laurel Ridge that is located in Salt Lake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bradley County community of Laurel Ridge.
    • Virginia
      • Montgomery County
      • This Laurel Ridge is located in Montgomery County and lies 1,700 miles [2,735.9 km]<1> to the east of the Laurel Ridge that is located in Salt Lake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Laurel Ridge.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Laurel Ridge ...

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.

  • Clover Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Clover Hills is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clover Hills
  • Crystal Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Crystal Hills is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Hills
  • Diamondville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Diamondville is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamondville
  • Dixie Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Dixie Valley is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixie Valley
  • Edenbrooke
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Edenbrooke is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edenbrooke
  • Featherwood Village
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Featherwood Village is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Featherwood Village
  • Greenfield Meadows
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Greenfield Meadows is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield Meadows
  • Heritage Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Heritage Heights is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Heights
  • Lane Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Lane Village is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lane Village
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Majestic Heights
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Majestic Heights is located in Salt Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Majestic Heights
    • Meadow Lane
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Meadow Lane is located in Salt Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Lane
    • Meadowridge
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Meadowridge is located in Salt Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowridge
    • Purple Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Purple Hills is located in Salt Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Purple Hills
    • Twin Lakes
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Twin Lakes is located in Salt Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Lakes
    • Valley High
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Valley High is located in Salt Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley High

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

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

  • Salt Lake City, which is the Seat of Salt Lake County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Laurel Ridge to Salt Lake City, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Salt Lake City, which is the State Capital of Utah, lies 13 miles [20.9 km] to the north northeast (NNE). The buggy would take four to five hours and walking would take 6 hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,847 miles [2,972.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of three days, a buggy would take 73 days and walking would take 105 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,012 miles [11,284.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,780 miles [12,520.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,759 miles [9,268.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Laurel Ridge) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Laurel Ridge 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 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 Laurel Ridge 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 Laurel Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5813, Longitude: -111.9872       In this case, the coordinates for Laurel Ridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 331.983 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 331.539 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 321.837 degrees.