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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Bonnie, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bonnie 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 Bonnie:
    • 38.202725, -88.906968
    • 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 Bonnie
  • 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Bonnie is near Franklin County and also Hamilton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hamilton 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 Bonnie

Communities Also Named Bonnie ...

We found five communities that are also named Bonnie.

There is one other community in Illinois that is also named Bonnie.

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

  • Communities Located In Illinois ...
    • Kane County
      • This Bonnie is located in Kane County and lies 258 miles [415.2 km]<1> to the north of the Bonnie that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kane County community of Bonnie.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Polk County
      • This Bonnie is located in Polk County and lies 819 miles [1,318.1 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Bonnie that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Polk County community of Bonnie.
    • Kentucky
      • Clay 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 Kentucky community of Bonnie [Clay County].
    • Utah
      • Utah County
      • Although located in Utah County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Utah County community of Bonnie.
    • West Virginia
      • Braxton County
      • This Bonnie is located in Braxton County and lies 445 miles [716.2 km]<1> to the east of the Bonnie that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Braxton County community of Bonnie.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Bonnie ...

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.

  • Camp Ground
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Camp Ground is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camp Ground
  • Dareville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Dareville is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dareville
  • Diana
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Diana is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diana
  • Drivers
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Drivers is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drivers
  • Harris Grove ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Harris Grove is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris Grove
  • Lynchburg ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Lynchburg is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynchburg
  • Roaches
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Roaches is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roaches
  • Spring Garden
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Spring Garden is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Garden
  • Summersville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Summersville is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summersville
  • Woodlawn
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)

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

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

  • Mount Vernon, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies just to the North.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 116 miles [186.7 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Bonnie to Springfield, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 642 miles [1,033.2 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 6,409 miles [10,314.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,140 miles [11,490.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,018 miles [8,075.7 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Bonnie) 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 Bonnie 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 Bonnie 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 Bonnie. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.2027, Longitude: -88.9070       In this case, the coordinates for Bonnie have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.216 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.711 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.147 degrees.