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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in East Saint Louis, we use the following websites to find information relevant to East Saint Louis 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 East Saint Louis:
    • 38.627191, -90.137830
    • 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 East Saint Louis
  • 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 East Saint Louis is near Madison County and also Saint Louis County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Louis 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 East Saint Louis

Curious and Interesting Names Near East Saint Louis ...

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 east)
  • Cherokee Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cherokee Park is located in Saint Louis City (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee Park
  • Eagle Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Eagle Park is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Park
  • Fox Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Fox Park is located in Saint Louis City (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Park
  • French Village
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Golden Gardens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Golden Gardens is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden Gardens
  • Granite City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Hilltop
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Hilltop is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Jeff Vander Lou
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jeff Vander Lou is located in Saint Louis County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jeff Vander Lou
  • Maplewood Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Maplewood Park is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maplewood Park
  • National City
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Rose Lake
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Rose Lake is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Lake
  • Signal Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Signal Hill is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Signal Hill
  • Tiffany
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Tiffany is located in Saint Louis City (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tiffany

How Far From East Saint Louis 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 city such as East Saint Louis to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in East Saint Louis and extending to:

  • Belleville, which is the Seat of Saint Clair County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from East Saint Louis to Belleville, with an average speed<3> 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 83 miles [133.6 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 705 miles [1,134.6 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,435 miles [10,356.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,169 miles [11,537.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,049 miles [8,125.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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 from Point A (ie- East Saint Louis) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 East Saint Louis 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 East Saint Louis. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.6272, Longitude: -90.1378    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.033 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.709 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.62 degrees.