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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Kentucky, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Kentucky 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 Kentucky:
    • 39.593037, -87.611178
    • 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 Kentucky
  • 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 Edgar County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Edgar County
    • Since Kentucky is near Vigo County and also Vermillion County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Vigo County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Vermillion 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 Kentucky

Communities Also Named Kentucky ...

We found four communities that are also named Kentucky.

Within Illinois, the name Kentucky is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Saline County
      • This Kentucky is located in Saline County and lies 442 miles [711.3 km]<1> to the southwest of the Kentucky that is located in Edgar County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saline County community of Kentucky.
    • Michigan
      • Alger County
      • This Kentucky is located in Alger County and lies 463 miles [745.1 km]<1> to the north of the Kentucky that is located in Edgar County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Alger County community of Kentucky.
      • Antrim 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 Michigan community of Kentucky [Antrim County].
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Kentucky.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Kentucky ...

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.

  • Clays Prairie
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Easytown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Easytown is located in Vermillion County (IN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Easytown
  • Harris
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Harris is located in Edgar County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris
  • Jonestown
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jonestown is located in Vermillion County (IN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonestown
  • Libertyville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Marley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Marley is located in Edgar County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marley
  • Mays
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Mays is located in Edgar County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mays
  • Oliver
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Paris
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Pine Ridge
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Universal
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Universal is located in Vermillion County (IN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Universal
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 339 people

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

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

  • Paris, which is the Seat of Edgar County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 109 miles [175.4 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Kentucky to Springfield, with an average speed<4>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 567 miles [912.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 33 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,292 miles [10,126 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,024 miles [11,304 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,903 miles [7,890.6 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Kentucky) 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 Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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 Kentucky. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.5930, Longitude: -87.6112       In this case, the coordinates for Kentucky have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.412 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.981 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.194 degrees.