RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Saint Clair County >> Notre Dame >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Notre Dame, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Notre Dame 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 Notre Dame:
    • 38.555606, -90.037606
    • 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 Notre Dame
  • 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 Saint Clair County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Clair County
    • Since Notre Dame is near Madison County and also Saint Louis County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Louis 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 Notre Dame

Communities Also Named Notre Dame ...

We found four communities that are also named Notre Dame.

Within Illinois, the name Notre Dame 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 ...
    • Indiana
      • Saint Joseph 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 Indiana community of Notre Dame [Saint Joseph County].
    • Maine
      • Aroostook County
      • This Notre Dame is located in Aroostook County and lies 1,257 miles [2,022.9 km]<2> to the northeast of the Notre Dame that is located in Saint Clair County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Aroostook County community of Notre Dame.
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore 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 Maryland community of Notre Dame [Baltimore County].
    • New Brunswick
      • This Notre Dame lies 1,389 miles [2,235.4 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Notre Dame that is located in Saint Clair County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Notre Dame ...

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.

  • Bunkum
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Bunkum is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bunkum
  • Carbon
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Carbon is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carbon
  • Caseyville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Crest Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Crest Hill is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crest Hill
  • Crossroads
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Crossroads is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossroads
  • Dutch Hollow
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Dutch Hollow is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dutch Hollow
  • French Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • French Village is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for French Village
  • Glenview
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Glenview is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenview
  • Golden Gardens
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Golden Gardens is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden Gardens
  • Hilltop
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Hilltop is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Royal Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Royal Heights is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Heights
  • Signal Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Signal Hill is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Signal Hill
  • Union Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Union Hill is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill

How Far From Notre Dame to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Notre Dame to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Belleville, which is the Seat of Saint Clair County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 87 miles [140 km]<2> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Notre Dame to Springfield, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 700 miles [1,126.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 40 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,434 miles [10,354.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,169 miles [11,537.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,048 miles [8,124 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 Notre Dame 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Notre Dame) 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 Notre Dame 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 Notre Dame. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5556, Longitude: -90.0376       In this case, the coordinates for Notre Dame have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.965 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.62 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.59 degrees.