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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Otterville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Otterville 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 Otterville:
    • 39.050724, -90.398452
    • 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 Otterville
  • 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 Jersey County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jersey County
    • Since Otterville is near Saint Charles County and also Calhoun County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Charles County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Calhoun 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 Otterville

Communities Also Named Otterville ...

We found six communities that are also named Otterville.

Within Illinois, the name Otterville is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Buchanan County
      • This Otterville is located in Buchanan County and lies 252 miles [405.6 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Otterville that is located in Jersey County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Buchanan County community of Otterville.
    • Kansas
      • Greenwood 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 Kansas community of Otterville [Greenwood County].
    • Missouri
      • Cooper County
      • This Otterville is located in Cooper County and lies 142 miles [228.5 km]<1> to the west of the Otterville that is located in Jersey County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cooper County community of Otterville.
    • New Hampshire
      • Merrimack County
      • This Otterville is located in Merrimack County and lies 997 miles [1,604.5 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Otterville that is located in Jersey County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Merrimack County community of Otterville.
    • Ontario
      • This Otterville lies 575 miles [925.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Otterville that is located in Jersey County.
    • Virginia
      • Bedford County
      • This Otterville is located in Bedford County and lies 601 miles [967.2 km]<1> to the east of the Otterville that is located in Jersey County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bedford County community of Otterville.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Otterville ...

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.

  • Black Walnut
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Black Walnut is located in Saint Charles County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Walnut
  • Centerville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Centerville is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
  • Deer Plain
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Deer Plain is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Plain
  • Democrat Spring
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Democrat Spring is located in Jersey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Democrat Spring
  • Kane
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Lockhaven
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Lockhaven is located in Jersey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lockhaven
  • Marshall Landing
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Marshall Landing is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall Landing
  • Nutwood
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Nutwood is located in Jersey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nutwood
  • Orchard Farm
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Orchard Farm is located in Saint Charles County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchard Farm
  • Rosedale
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Rosedale is located in Jersey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosedale

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

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

  • Jerseyville, which is the Seat of Jersey County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 64 miles [103 km]<1> to the northeast (NE). If you could walk a straight line from Otterville to Springfield, with an average speed<4> 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 about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 716 miles [1,152.3 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,423 miles [10,336.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,160 miles [11,522.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,041 miles [8,112.7 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Otterville) 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 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 Otterville 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 Otterville 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 Otterville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.0507, Longitude: -90.3985       In this case, the coordinates for Otterville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.22 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.982 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.646 degrees.