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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Pershing, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Pershing 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 Pershing:
    • 37.880050, -88.965349
    • 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 Pershing
  • 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 Pershing is near Williamson County and also Jackson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Williamson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson 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 Pershing

Communities Also Named Pershing ...

We found seven communities that are also named Pershing.

Within Illinois, the name Pershing is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Fulton County
      • This Pershing is located in Fulton County and lies 263 miles [423.3 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Pershing that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fulton County community of Pershing.
      • Wayne 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 Indiana community of Pershing [Wayne County].
    • Iowa
      • Marion County
      • This Pershing is located in Marion County and lies 317 miles [510.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Pershing that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Pershing.
    • Missouri
      • Gasconade County
      • This Pershing is located in Gasconade County and lies 151 miles [243 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Pershing that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gasconade County community of Pershing.
    • Montana
      • Carter County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Montana community of Pershing [Carter County].
    • Oklahoma
      • Osage County
      • This Pershing is located in Osage County and lies 411 miles [661.4 km]<1> to the west of the Pershing that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Osage County community of Pershing.
    • Texas
      • Travis County
      • This Pershing is located in Travis County and lies 725 miles [1,166.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Pershing that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Travis County community of Pershing.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Pershing ...

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.

  • Chittyville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Chittyville is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chittyville
  • Freeman Spur
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Freeman Spur is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman Spur
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 276 people
    • Freeman Spur has also been known as:
    • Freeman Spur village
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Freeman Spur <4>
  • Jenkins
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jenkins is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins
  • Lake Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Lake Creek is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Creek
  • Mitchell
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Mitchell is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mitchell
  • Paineville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Paineville is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paineville
  • Plumfield
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Plumfield is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plumfield
  • Shakerag
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Shakerag is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shakerag

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

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

  • Benton, which is the Seat of Franklin County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Pershing to Benton, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 136 miles [218.9 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 648 miles [1,042.9 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,427 miles [10,343.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,157 miles [11,518.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,034 miles [8,101.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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- Pershing) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Pershing 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Pershing, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Pershing 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 Pershing. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.8800, Longitude: -88.9653       In this case, the coordinates for Pershing have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.242 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.696 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.25 degrees.