RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Alexander County >> Olive Branch >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Olive Branch, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Olive Branch 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 Olive Branch:
    • 37.168661, -89.351749
    • 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 Olive Branch
  • 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 Alexander County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alexander County
    • Since Olive Branch is near Scott County and also Pulaski County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Scott County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pulaski 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 Olive Branch

Communities Also Named Olive Branch ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Olive Branch.

Within Illinois, the name Olive Branch is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Talbot County
      • This Olive Branch is located in Talbot County and lies 410 miles [659.8 km]<1> to the southeast of the Olive Branch that is located in Alexander County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Talbot County community of Olive Branch.
    • Kentucky
      • Fleming County
      • This Olive Branch is located in Fleming County and lies 312 miles [502.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Olive Branch that is located in Alexander County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fleming County community of Olive Branch.
      • Shelby County
      • This Olive Branch is located in Shelby County and lies 232 miles [373.4 km] to the east northeast of the Olive Branch that is located in Alexander County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Shelby County community of Olive Branch.
    • Louisiana
      • East Feliciana Parish
      • This Olive Branch is located in East Feliciana Parish and lies 454 miles [730.6 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Olive Branch that is located in Alexander County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the East Feliciana Parish community of Olive Branch.
    • Michigan
      • Oakland 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 Olive Branch [Oakland County].
    • Mississippi
      • DeSoto County
      • This Olive Branch is located in DeSoto County and lies 154 miles [247.8 km]<1> to the south of the Olive Branch that is located in Alexander County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the DeSoto County community of Olive Branch.
    • Nebraska
      • Lancaster 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 Nebraska community of Olive Branch [Lancaster County].
    • New York
      • Ulster 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 New York community of Olive Branch [Ulster County].
    • North Carolina
      • Union County
      • This Olive Branch is located in Union County and lies 523 miles [841.7 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Olive Branch that is located in Alexander County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Union County community of Olive Branch.
    • Ohio
      • Clermont County
      • This Olive Branch is located in Clermont County and lies 308 miles [495.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Olive Branch that is located in Alexander County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clermont County community of Olive Branch.
    • Tennessee
      • Lauderdale County
      • This Olive Branch is located in Lauderdale County and lies 100 miles [160.9 km]<1> to the south of the Olive Branch that is located in Alexander County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lauderdale County community of Olive Branch.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Olive Branch ...

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.

  • Cache
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Clank
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Clank is located in Alexander County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clank
  • Commerce
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Fayville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Fayville is located in Alexander County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fayville
  • Frog City ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Frog City is located in Alexander County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frog City
  • Gale
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Gale is located in Alexander County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gale
  • Grays Point ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Grays Point is located in Scott County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays Point
  • Tankville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Tankville is located in Alexander County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tankville
  • Unity
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)

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

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

  • Cairo, which is the Seat of Alexander County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Olive Branch to Cairo, 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 181 miles [291.3 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 679 miles [1,092.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,477 miles [10,423.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,205 miles [11,595.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,082 miles [8,178.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Olive Branch) 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 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 Olive Branch 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 Olive Branch 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 Olive Branch. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.1687, Longitude: -89.3517       In this case, the coordinates for Olive Branch have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.461 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.85 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.589 degrees.