RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative
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The Commemorative Quarter for Illinois





Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Southern Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Southern Hills 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 Southern Hills:
    • 37.703939, -89.210639
    • 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.
    • The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Southern Hills
  • 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:
    • Waymark.com

Communities Also Named Southern Hills ...

We found five communities that share the name Southern Hills.

Within Illinois, the name Southern Hills is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Louisiana
      • Caddo Parish
      • This Southern Hills is located in Caddo Parish and lies 448 miles [721 km]<1> to the southwest of the Southern Hills that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Caddo Parish community of Southern Hills.
    • Ohio
      • Clark 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 Ohio community of Southern Hills [Clark County].
      • Montgomery County
      • This Southern Hills is located in Montgomery County and lies 304 miles [489.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Southern Hills that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Southern Hills.
    • Tennessee
      • Maury County
      • This Southern Hills is located in Maury County and lies 189 miles [304.2 km]<1> to the southeast of the Southern Hills that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Maury County community of Southern Hills.
    • Virginia
      • Roanoke City
      • This Southern Hills is located in Roanoke City and lies 507 miles [815.9 km]<1> to the east of the Southern Hills that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke City community of Southern Hills.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Southern Hills ...

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.

  • Carbondale
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Carterville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Crainville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crainville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crainville
    • Crainville is located in Williamson County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,419 people
  • De Soto
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for De Soto have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Soto
    • De Soto is located in Jackson County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,503 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for De Soto <3>
  • Evergreen Terrace
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Evergreen Terrace have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Terrace
    • Evergreen Terrace is located in Jackson County
  • Poplar Ridge
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Poplar Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Ridge
    • Poplar Ridge is located in Jackson County
  • Reeds Station
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reeds Station have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reeds Station
    • Reeds Station is located in Jackson County
  • Texas Junction
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Texas Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Texas Junction
    • Texas Junction is located in Jackson County

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

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

  • Murphysboro, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 145 miles [233.4 km]<1> to the north (N). If you could drive a straight line from Southern Hills to Springfield, with an average speed<5>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 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 664 miles [1,068.6 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 38 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,445 miles [10,372.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,175 miles [11,547 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,052 miles [8,130.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Southern Hills. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Jackson County: www.co.jackson.il.us/

The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov

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- Southern Hills) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Southern Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.7039, Longitude: -89.2106       In this case, the coordinates for Southern Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Southern Hills 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>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<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 Southern Hills to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.393 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.846 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.403 degrees.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 21 Apr 2025