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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Broughton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Broughton 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 Broughton:
    • 37.934618, -88.461504
    • 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 Broughton
  • 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 Broughton is near Saline County and also White 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 White 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 Broughton

Communities Also Named Broughton ...

We found eight communities that are also named Broughton.

Within Illinois, the name Broughton is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, seven are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Randolph County
      • This Broughton is located in Randolph County and lies 369 miles [593.8 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Broughton that is located in Hamilton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Randolph County community of Broughton.
    • Colorado
      • Delta County
      • This Broughton is located in Delta County and lies 1,074 miles [1,728.4 km]<1> to the west of the Broughton that is located in Hamilton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Delta County community of Broughton.
    • Georgia
      • Jasper County
      • This Broughton is located in Jasper County and lies 407 miles [655 km]<1> to the southeast of the Broughton that is located in Hamilton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jasper County community of Broughton.
      • Morgan 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 Georgia community of Broughton [Morgan County].
    • Kansas
      • Clay County
      • This Broughton is located in Clay County and lies 473 miles [761.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Broughton that is located in Hamilton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Broughton.
    • Nova Scotia
      • 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 Nova Scotia community of Broughton.
    • Ohio
      • Paulding County
      • This Broughton is located in Paulding County and lies 301 miles [484.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the Broughton that is located in Hamilton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Paulding County community of Broughton.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Allegheny County
      • This Broughton is located in Allegheny County and lies 482 miles [775.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Broughton that is located in Hamilton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegheny County community of Broughton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Broughton ...

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
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Cornerville is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornerville
  • Dale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Eldorado
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Francis
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Francis is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Francis
  • Hoodville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Hoodville is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoodville
  • Jamestown ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jamestown is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown
  • Long Branch
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Long Branch is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Branch
  • Middlepoint
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Middlepoint is located in White County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middlepoint
  • Nipper Corner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Nipper Corner is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nipper Corner
  • Saline City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Saline City is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saline City
  • Texas City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Texas City is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Texas City
  • Tuckers Corners
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Tuckers Corners is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuckers Corners
  • University
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • University is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University

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

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

  • McLeansboro, which is the Seat of Hamilton County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Broughton to McLeansboro, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 142 miles [228.5 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 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 621 miles [999.4 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<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,405 miles [10,307.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,134 miles [11,481.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,011 miles [8,064.4 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Broughton) 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 Broughton 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 Broughton, 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 Broughton 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 Broughton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9346, Longitude: -88.4615       In this case, the coordinates for Broughton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.92 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.333 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.007 degrees.