RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Pike County >> New Canton >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in New Canton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to New Canton 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 New Canton:
    • 39.637406, -91.098209
    • 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 New Canton
  • 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 Pike County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pike County
    • Since New Canton is near Pike County and also Ralls County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pike County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ralls 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 New Canton

Communities Also Named New Canton ...

We found four communities that are also named New Canton.

Within Illinois, the name New Canton is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Cowley County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of New Canton [Cowley County].
    • New Jersey
      • Mercer County
      • This New Canton is located in Mercer County and lies 875 miles [1,408.2 km]<2> to the east of the New Canton that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mercer County community of New Canton.
    • Tennessee
      • Hawkins County
      • This New Canton is located in Hawkins County and lies 501 miles [806.3 km]<2> to the east southeast of the New Canton that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hawkins County community of New Canton.
    • Virginia
      • Buckingham County
      • This New Canton is located in Buckingham County and lies 702 miles [1,129.8 km]<2> to the east of the New Canton that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Buckingham County community of New Canton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near New Canton ...

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.

  • Atlas
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Atlas is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlas
  • Barry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Hope
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Hope is located in Pike County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hope
  • Hull
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Kinderhook
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Monkey Run
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Monkey Run is located in Ralls County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monkey Run
  • New Philadelphia
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • New Philadelphia is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Philadelphia
  • Plainville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Reading
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Reading is located in Pike County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reading
  • Rockport
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Salt River
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Salt River is located in Ralls County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salt River
  • Summer Hill
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Summer Hill is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summer Hill

How Far From New Canton 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 town such as New Canton to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Pittsfield, which is the Seat of Pike County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<2> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from New Canton to Pittsfield, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 77 miles [123.9 km] to the east (E). 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 752 miles [1,210.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,420 miles [10,332 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,159 miles [11,521.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,043 miles [8,115.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 New Canton 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.
<2>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- New Canton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 New Canton 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 New Canton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6374, Longitude: -91.0982       In this case, the coordinates for New Canton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.706 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.62 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.846 degrees.