Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Fransonia, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fransonia and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Fransonia
- 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 Fransonia:
- 38.645604, -88.158095
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Fransonia
- 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 Richland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Richland County
- Since Fransonia is near Edwards County and also Clay County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Edwards County
- eBird sighting report for Clay 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:
- Waymark.com
Curious and Interesting Names Near Fransonia ...
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.
- Clay City
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clay City
- Clay City is located in Clay County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 898 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clay City <1>
- Elbow
(Less than 2 miles to the east) - Gallagher
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest) - Maple Grove
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maple Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
- Maple Grove is located in Edwards County
- Marion
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast) - Maysville
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west) - Noble
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Noble have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noble
- Noble is located in Richland County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 643 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Noble <1>
- Passport
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest) - Schnell
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west) - Seminary
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
How Far From Fransonia 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 Fransonia to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of Fransonia once stood, the straight-line distance<5> beginning in Fransonia and extending to:
- Olney, which is the Seat of Richland County, lies just to the North Northeast.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 112 miles [180.2 km]<5> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Fransonia to Springfield, with an average speed<6>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 598 miles [962.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 34 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,359 miles [10,233.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,089 miles [11,408.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,967 miles [7,993.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov
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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <3> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <4> | 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 Fransonia, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <5> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Fransonia) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fransonia. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.6456, Longitude: -88.1581 In this case, the coordinates for Fransonia have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Fransonia to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.747 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.232 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.693 degrees. |