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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Malta, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Malta and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Malta:
    • 41.929902, -88.862053
    • 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 Malta
  • 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 DeKalb County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DeKalb County
    • Since Malta is near Ogle County and also Lee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ogle County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lee 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 Malta

Communities Also Named Malta ...

We found sixteen communities that are also named Malta.

Within Illinois, the name Malta is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Escambia County
      • This Malta is located in Escambia County and lies 757 miles [1,218.3 km]<1> to the south of the Malta that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Escambia County community of Malta.
    • Colorado
      • Lake County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Malta [Lake County].
    • Idaho
      • Cassia County
      • This Malta is located in Cassia County and lies 1,251 miles [2,013.3 km]<1> to the west of the Malta that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cassia County community of Malta.
    • Iowa
      • Marshall County
      • This Malta is located in Marshall County and lies 218 miles [350.8 km]<1> to the west of the Malta that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marshall County community of Malta.
    • Kansas
      • Cloud County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Malta [Cloud County].
    • Michigan
      • Kent County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Malta [Kent County].
    • Missouri
      • Barton County
      • Although located in Barton County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Barton County community of Malta.
    • Montana
      • Dawson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Montana community of Malta [Dawson County].
      • Phillips County
      • This Malta is located in Phillips County and lies 1,022 miles [1,644.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Malta that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Phillips County community of Malta.
    • New York
      • Saratoga County
      • This Malta is located in Saratoga County and lies 770 miles [1,239.2 km]<1> to the east of the Malta that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saratoga County community of Malta.
    • Ohio
      • Morgan County
      • This Malta is located in Morgan County and lies 398 miles [640.5 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Malta that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morgan County community of Malta.
    • Ontario
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ontario community of Malta.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Northumberland County
      • This Malta is located in Northumberland County and lies 626 miles [1,007.4 km]<1> to the east of the Malta that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Northumberland County community of Malta.
    • South Carolina
      • Sumter County
      • This Malta is located in Sumter County and lies 715 miles [1,150.7 km]<1> to the southeast of the Malta that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sumter County community of Malta.
    • Texas
      • Bowie County
      • This Malta is located in Bowie County and lies 659 miles [1,060.6 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Malta that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bowie County community of Malta.
    • West Virginia
      • Barbour County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Malta [Barbour County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Malta ...

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.

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

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

  • Sycamore, which is the Seat of DeKalb County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Malta to Sycamore, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 153 miles [246.2 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 655 miles [1,054.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 38 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,224 miles [10,016.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,966 miles [11,210.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,851 miles [7,806.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 from Point A (ie- Malta) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Malta, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Malta 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.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Malta 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 Malta. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.9299, Longitude: -88.8621    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.255 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.273 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.163 degrees.