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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Aldridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Aldridge 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 Aldridge:
    • 37.558383, -89.470095
    • 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 Aldridge
  • 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 Union County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Union County
    • Since Aldridge is near Cape Girardeau County and also Jackson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cape Girardeau County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson 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 Aldridge

Communities Also Named Aldridge ...

We found seven communities that are also named Aldridge.

Within Illinois, the name Aldridge is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Walker County
      • This Aldridge is located in Walker County and lies 293 miles [471.5 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Aldridge that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Walker County community of Aldridge.
    • Florida
      • Duval 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 Florida community of Aldridge [Duval County].
    • Mississippi
      • Washington County
      • This Aldridge is located in Washington County and lies 300 miles [482.8 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Aldridge that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Aldridge.
    • Montana
      • Park County
      • This Aldridge is located in Park County and lies 1,218 miles [1,960.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Aldridge that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Park County community of Aldridge.
    • Texas
      • Jasper County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Jasper County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jasper County community of Aldridge.
    • Utah
      • Wayne County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Utah community of Aldridge [Wayne County].
    • West Virginia
      • Jefferson County
      • This Aldridge is located in Jefferson County and lies 635 miles [1,021.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Aldridge that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Aldridge.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Aldridge ...

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.

  • Egypt Mills
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Egypt Mills is located in Cape Girardeau County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Egypt Mills
  • Fruitland
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Fruitland is located in Cape Girardeau County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fruitland
  • Grand Tower
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Lovejoy
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lovejoy is located in Cape Girardeau County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lovejoy
  • Moccasin Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Moccasin Springs is located in Cape Girardeau County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moccasin Springs
  • Mountain Glen
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Mountain Glen is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Glen
  • Oriole
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Oriole is located in Cape Girardeau County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oriole
  • Pocahontas
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Pocahontas is located in Cape Girardeau County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pocahontas
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 104 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pocahontas <4>
  • Poplar Ridge
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Poplar Ridge is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Ridge
  • Pottsville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Pottsville is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pottsville
  • Union Point
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Union Point is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Point
  • Wolf Lake
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)

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

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

  • Jonesboro, which is the Seat of Union County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Aldridge to Jonesboro, with an average speed<5> 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.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 153 miles [246.2 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 680 miles [1,094.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,462 miles [10,399.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,192 miles [11,574.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,070 miles [8,159.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 from Point A (ie- Aldridge) 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 Aldridge 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>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 Aldridge, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Aldridge 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 Aldridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.5584, Longitude: -89.4701       In this case, the coordinates for Aldridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.555 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.012 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.555 degrees.