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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rust, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rust 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 Rust:
    • 38.002549, -88.761172
    • 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 Rust
  • 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 Rust is near Hamilton County and also Saline County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hamilton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saline 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 Rust

Communities Also Named Rust ...

We found three communities that are also named Rust.

Within Illinois, the name Rust is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Crawford 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 Kansas community of Rust [Crawford County].
    • Michigan
      • Mecosta 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 Michigan community of Rust [Mecosta County].
      • Montmorency County
      • This Rust is located in Montmorency County and lies 542 miles [872.3 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Rust that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montmorency County community of Rust.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rust ...

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.

  • Cornerville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Cornerville is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornerville
  • Diana
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Diana is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diana
  • Flint
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Flint is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint
  • Greenville ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Greenville is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenville
  • Halltown ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Halltown is located in Saline County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halltown
  • Locust Grove ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Locust Grove is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Grove
  • Rural Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Rural Hill is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rural Hill
  • Smothersville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Smothersville is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smothersville
  • Steel City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Steel City is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steel City
  • Tuckers Corners
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Tuckers Corners is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuckers Corners
  • University
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • University is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University

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

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

  • Benton, which is the Seat of Franklin County, lies just to the West.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 131 miles [210.8 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Rust 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 636 miles [1,023.5 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 6,413 miles [10,320.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,143 miles [11,495.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,020 miles [8,078.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 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 Rust 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 '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- Rust) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Rust 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 Rust. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.0025, Longitude: -88.7612       In this case, the coordinates for Rust have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.115 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.567 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.128 degrees.