RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Pope County >> Abbot >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Abbot, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Abbot 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 Abbot:
    • 37.557272, -88.698945
    • 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 Abbot
  • 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 Pope County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pope County
    • Since Abbot is near Saline County and also Johnson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saline County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Johnson 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 Abbot

Communities Also Named Abbot ...

We found two communities that are also named Abbot.

Within Illinois, the name Abbot is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maine
      • Piscataquis County
      • This Abbot is located in Piscataquis County and lies 1,123 miles [1,807.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Abbot that is located in Pope County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Piscataquis County community of Abbot.
    • Tennessee
      • Campbell 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 Tennessee community of Abbot [Campbell County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Abbot ...

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.

  • Cross Roads ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Cross Roads is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
  • Delta
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Delta is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delta
  • Egyptian Hills
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Egyptian Hills is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Egyptian Hills
  • Flatwoods
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Flatwoods is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatwoods
  • Pond
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Pond is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pond
  • Rodgersville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Rodgersville is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rodgersville
  • Rose Ford
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Rose Ford is located in Pope County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Ford
  • Saline
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Saline is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saline
  • Sandburn
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Sandburn is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandburn
  • Sulphur Springs ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Sulphur Springs is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sulphur Springs
  • Tunnel Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)

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

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

  • Golconda, which is the Seat of Pope County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Abbot to Golconda, 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 five to six hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 162 miles [260.7 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 638 miles [1,026.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,432 miles [10,351.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,161 miles [11,524.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,038 miles [8,107.9 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- Abbot) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Abbot 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 Abbot 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 Abbot. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.5573, Longitude: -88.6989       In this case, the coordinates for Abbot have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.059 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.44 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.205 degrees.