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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Strasburg, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Strasburg 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 Strasburg:
    • 39.349594, -88.621188
    • 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 Strasburg
  • 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 Shelby County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby County
    • Since Strasburg is near Cumberland County and also Moultrie County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cumberland County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Moultrie 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 Strasburg

Communities Also Named Strasburg ...

We found nine communities that are also named Strasburg.

Within Illinois, the name Strasburg 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 ...
    • Colorado
      • Adams County
      • This Strasburg is located in Adams County and lies 835 miles [1,343.8 km]<1> to the west of the Strasburg that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Adams County community of Strasburg.
    • Michigan
      • Monroe County
      • This Strasburg is located in Monroe County and lies 321 miles [516.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Strasburg that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monroe County community of Strasburg.
    • Missouri
      • Cass County
      • This Strasburg is located in Cass County and lies 299 miles [481.2 km]<1> to the west of the Strasburg that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cass County community of Strasburg.
    • North Dakota
      • Emmons County
      • This Strasburg is located in Emmons County and lies 748 miles [1,203.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Strasburg that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Emmons County community of Strasburg.
    • Ohio
      • Tuscarawas County
      • This Strasburg is located in Tuscarawas County and lies 384 miles [618 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Strasburg that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tuscarawas County community of Strasburg.
    • Ontario
      • This Strasburg lies 506 miles [814.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Strasburg that is located in Shelby County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Lancaster County
      • This Strasburg is located in Lancaster County and lies 661 miles [1,063.8 km]<1> to the east of the Strasburg that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lancaster County community of Strasburg.
    • Virginia
      • Shenandoah County
      • This Strasburg is located in Shenandoah County and lies 549 miles [883.5 km]<1> to the east of the Strasburg that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Shenandoah County community of Strasburg.
    • Wisconsin
      • Langlade 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 Wisconsin community of Strasburg [Langlade County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Strasburg ...

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.

  • Bruce
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Bruce is located in Moultrie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruce
  • Gays
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Gays is located in Moultrie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gays
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 252 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gays <3>
  • Green Creek
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Green Creek is located in Effingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Creek
  • Holland
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Holland is located in Effingham County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holland
  • Holliday
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Holliday is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holliday
  • Kingman
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Kingman is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingman
  • Lillyville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Lillyville is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lillyville
  • Magnet
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Magnet is located in Coles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnet
  • Mode
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Mode is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mode
  • Paradise
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Paradise is located in Coles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise

How Far From Strasburg to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a village such as Strasburg to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Shelbyville, which is the Seat of Shelby County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Strasburg to Shelbyville, with an average speed<4> 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 62 miles [99.8 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 620 miles [997.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,342 miles [10,206.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,075 miles [11,386.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,955 miles [7,974.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 from Point A (ie- Strasburg) 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 Strasburg 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>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.
<5>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 Strasburg 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 Strasburg. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.3496, Longitude: -88.6212       In this case, the coordinates for Strasburg have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.064 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.694 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.732 degrees.