RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Saint Clair County >> Crest Hill >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Crest Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Crest Hill 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 Crest Hill:
    • 38.539495, -90.077052
    • 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 Crest Hill
  • 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 Saint Clair County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Clair County
    • Since Crest Hill is near Saint Louis City and also Madison County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Louis City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison 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 Crest Hill

Communities Also Named Crest Hill ...

We found two communities that are also named Crest Hill.

There is one other community in Illinois that is also named Crest Hill.

Beyond Illinois, there is another community also named Crest Hill in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Illinois ...
    • Will County
      • This Crest Hill is located in Will County and lies 233 miles [375 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Crest Hill that is located in Saint Clair County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Will County community of Crest Hill.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Virginia
      • Roanoke County
      • This Crest Hill is located in Roanoke County and lies 555 miles [893.2 km]<1> to the east of the Crest Hill that is located in Saint Clair County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke County community of Crest Hill.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Crest Hill ...

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.

  • Bunkum
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Bunkum is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bunkum
  • Dutch Hollow
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Dutch Hollow is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dutch Hollow
  • Falling Spring
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Falling Spring is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falling Spring
  • French Village
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • French Village is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for French Village
  • Golden Gardens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Golden Gardens is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden Gardens
  • Hilltop
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Hilltop is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Maplewood Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Maplewood Park is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maplewood Park
  • Roachtown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Roachtown is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roachtown
  • Royal Heights
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Royal Heights is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Heights
  • Signal Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Signal Hill is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Signal Hill
  • Union Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Union Hill is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill

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

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

  • Belleville, which is the Seat of Saint Clair County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 88 miles [141.6 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Crest Hill to Springfield, with an average speed<2>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 702 miles [1,129.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 40 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,437 miles [10,359.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,171 miles [11,540.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,051 miles [8,128.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

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- Crest Hill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Crest Hill 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 Crest Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5395, Longitude: -90.0771       In this case, the coordinates for Crest Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.99 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.647 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.612 degrees.