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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Braden, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Braden 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 Braden:
    • 37.996437, -88.616166
    • 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 Braden
  • 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 Hamilton County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hamilton County
    • Since Braden is near Saline County and also Franklin 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 Franklin 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 Braden

Communities Also Named Braden ...

We found five communities that are also named Braden.

Within Illinois, the name Braden is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Oklahoma
      • Le Flore County
      • This Braden is located in Le Flore County and lies 375 miles [603.5 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Braden that is located in Hamilton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Le Flore County community of Braden.
    • Tennessee
      • Anderson 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 Braden [Anderson County].
      • Fayette County
      • This Braden is located in Fayette County and lies 189 miles [304.2 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Braden that is located in Hamilton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Braden.
      • Union County
      • This Braden is located in Union County and lies 282 miles [453.8 km] to the east southeast of the Braden that is located in Hamilton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Union County community of Braden.
    • West Virginia
      • Tyler County
      • This Braden is located in Tyler County and lies 435 miles [700.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Braden that is located in Hamilton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tyler County community of Braden.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Braden ...

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.

  • Cornerville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Cornerville is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornerville
  • Dale
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Diamond City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Diamond City is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond City
  • Flint
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Flint is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint
  • Halltown ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Halltown is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halltown
  • Hoodville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Hoodville is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoodville
  • Long Branch
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Long Branch is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Branch
  • Nipper Corner
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Nipper Corner is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nipper Corner
  • Rural Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Rural Hill is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rural Hill
  • Rust
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Rust is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rust
  • Tuckers Corners
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Tuckers Corners is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuckers Corners
  • University
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • University is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University

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

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

  • McLeansboro, which is the Seat of Hamilton County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 135 miles [217.3 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Braden to Springfield, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 628 miles [1,010.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,408 miles [10,312.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,137 miles [11,485.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,015 miles [8,070.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Braden) 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 Braden 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 Braden 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 Braden. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9964, Longitude: -88.6162       In this case, the coordinates for Braden have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.022 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.458 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.063 degrees.