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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Parrish, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Parrish 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 Parrish:
    • 37.941489, -88.812713
    • 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 Parrish
  • 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 Franklin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin County
    • Since Parrish is near Saline County and also Hamilton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saline County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hamilton 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 Parrish

Communities Also Named Parrish ...

We found seven communities that are also named Parrish.

Within Illinois, the name Parrish is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Walker County
      • This Parrish is located in Walker County and lies 302 miles [486 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Parrish that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Walker County community of Parrish.
    • Colorado
      • Prowers County
      • This Parrish is located in Prowers County and lies 737 miles [1,186.1 km]<1> to the west of the Parrish that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Prowers County community of Parrish.
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Parrish is located in Hillsborough County and lies 790 miles [1,271.4 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Parrish that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Parrish.
      • Manatee County
      • This Parrish is located in Manatee County and lies 804 miles [1,293.9 km] to the south southeast of the Parrish that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Manatee County community of Parrish.
    • Iowa
      • Des Moines 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 Iowa community of Parrish [Des Moines County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Forest County
      • This Parrish is located in Forest County and lies 575 miles [925.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Parrish that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Forest County community of Parrish.
    • Wisconsin
      • Langlade County
      • This Parrish is located in Langlade County and lies 517 miles [832 km]<1> to the north of the Parrish that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Langlade County community of Parrish.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Parrish ...

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.

  • Greenville ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Greenville is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenville
  • Halltown ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Halltown is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halltown
  • Jenkins
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jenkins is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins
  • Locust Grove ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Locust Grove is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Grove
  • Rural Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Rural Hill is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rural Hill
  • Rust
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Rust is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rust
  • Shakerag
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Shakerag is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shakerag
  • Smothersville
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Smothersville is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smothersville
  • Steel City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)

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

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

  • Benton, which is the Seat of Franklin County, lies just to the Northwest.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 134 miles [215.7 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Parrish to Springfield, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 640 miles [1,030 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,418 miles [10,328.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,148 miles [11,503.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,025 miles [8,087 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Parrish) 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 Parrish 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 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.
<4>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 Parrish 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 Parrish. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9415, Longitude: -88.8127    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.146 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.594 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.166 degrees.