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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sinclair, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sinclair 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 Sinclair:
    • 39.802270, -90.121783
    • 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 Sinclair
  • 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 Morgan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Morgan County
    • Since Sinclair is near Cass County and also Sangamon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cass County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sangamon 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 Sinclair

Communities Also Named Sinclair ...

We found nine communities that are also named Sinclair.

Within Illinois, the name Sinclair is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Boundary County
      • This Sinclair is located in Boundary County and lies 1,422 miles [2,288.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the Sinclair that is located in Morgan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boundary County community of Sinclair.
    • Iowa
      • Butler County
      • This Sinclair is located in Butler County and lies 230 miles [370.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Sinclair that is located in Morgan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of Sinclair.
    • Maine
      • Aroostook County
      • This Sinclair is located in Aroostook County and lies 1,201 miles [1,932.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Sinclair that is located in Morgan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Aroostook County community of Sinclair.
    • Manitoba
      • This Sinclair lies 859 miles [1,382.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Sinclair that is located in Morgan County.
    • Montana
      • Powell 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 Montana community of Sinclair [Powell County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Westmoreland 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 Pennsylvania community of Sinclair [Westmoreland County].
    • South Carolina
      • Lexington 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 South Carolina community of Sinclair [Lexington County].
    • West Virginia
      • Preston County
      • This Sinclair is located in Preston County and lies 549 miles [883.5 km]<1> to the east of the Sinclair that is located in Morgan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Preston County community of Sinclair.
    • Wyoming
      • Carbon County
      • This Sinclair is located in Carbon County and lies 897 miles [1,443.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Sinclair that is located in Morgan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carbon County community of Sinclair.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sinclair ...

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.

  • Arnold
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Arnold is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arnold
  • Gurney ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Gurney is located in Cass County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gurney
  • Island Grove
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Island Grove is located in Sangamon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island Grove
  • Jordanville ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jordanville is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordanville
  • Joy Prairie
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Joy Prairie is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joy Prairie
  • Little Indian
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Little Indian is located in Cass County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Indian
  • Orleans
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Orleans is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orleans
  • Portuguese Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Portuguese Hill is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portuguese Hill
  • Savage ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Savage is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savage

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

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

  • Jacksonville, which is the Seat of Morgan County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 24 miles [38.6 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could walk a straight line from Sinclair to Springfield, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 700 miles [1,126.5 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 40 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,375 miles [10,259.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,113 miles [11,447.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,996 miles [8,040.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Sinclair) 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 Sinclair 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 Sinclair 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 Sinclair. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.8023, Longitude: -90.1218       In this case, the coordinates for Sinclair have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.062 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.902 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.335 degrees.