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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Kirksville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Kirksville 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 Kirksville:
    • 39.570591, -88.668398
    • 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 Kirksville
  • 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 Moultrie County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Moultrie County
    • Since Kirksville is near Shelby County and also Coles County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Coles 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 Kirksville

Communities Also Named Kirksville ...

We found three communities that are also named Kirksville.

Within Illinois, the name Kirksville is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Monroe County
      • This Kirksville is located in Monroe County and lies 115 miles [185.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Kirksville that is located in Moultrie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monroe County community of Kirksville.
    • Kentucky
      • Madison County
      • This Kirksville is located in Madison County and lies 264 miles [424.9 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Kirksville that is located in Moultrie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Kirksville.
    • Missouri
      • Adair County
      • This Kirksville is located in Adair County and lies 211 miles [339.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Kirksville that is located in Moultrie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Adair County community of Kirksville.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Kirksville ...

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.

  • Arthur
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Bethany
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Bruce
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Bruce is located in Moultrie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruce
  • Chipps
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Chipps is located in Moultrie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chipps
  • Cooks Mills
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Cooks Mills is located in Coles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooks Mills
  • Fuller
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Fuller is located in Coles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fuller
  • Gays
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Gays is located in Moultrie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gays
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 252 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gays <2>
  • Lake City
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Lake City is located in Moultrie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake City
  • Prairie Hall
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Prairie Hall is located in Macon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Hall
  • Todds Point
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Todds Point is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Todds Point

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

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

  • Sullivan, which is the Seat of Moultrie County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 54 miles [86.9 km]<1> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could walk a straight line from Kirksville to Springfield, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 623 miles [1,002.6 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,333 miles [10,192 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,067 miles [11,373.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,947 miles [7,961.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Kirksville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Kirksville 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 Kirksville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.5706, Longitude: -88.6684       In this case, the coordinates for Kirksville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.10 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.766 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.698 degrees.