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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Tilden, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Tilden 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 Tilden:
    • 38.212408, -89.683952
    • 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 Tilden
  • 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 Randolph County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Randolph County
    • Since Tilden is near Washington County and also Saint Clair County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Clair 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 Tilden

Communities Also Named Tilden ...

We found sixteen communities that are also named Tilden.

Within Illinois, the name Tilden is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Dallas County
      • This Tilden is located in Dallas County and lies 447 miles [719.4 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Tilden that is located in Randolph County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dallas County community of Tilden.
    • Indiana
      • Hendricks County
      • This Tilden is located in Hendricks County and lies 206 miles [331.5 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Tilden that is located in Randolph County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hendricks County community of Tilden.
    • Kentucky
      • Webster County
      • This Tilden is located in Webster County and lies 115 miles [185.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Tilden that is located in Randolph County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Webster County community of Tilden.
    • Louisiana
      • Avoyelles Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Tilden [Avoyelles Parish].
    • Maine
      • Hancock 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 Maine community of Tilden [Hancock County].
    • Minnesota
      • Polk 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 Minnesota community of Tilden [Polk County].
    • Mississippi
      • Itawamba County
      • This Tilden is located in Itawamba County and lies 287 miles [461.9 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Tilden that is located in Randolph County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Itawamba County community of Tilden.
    • Missouri
      • Dallas County
      • This Tilden is located in Dallas County and lies 181 miles [291.3 km]<1> to the west of the Tilden that is located in Randolph County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dallas County community of Tilden.
    • Nebraska
      • Madison County
      • This Tilden is located in Madison County and lies 504 miles [811.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Tilden that is located in Randolph County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Tilden.
    • North Carolina
      • Yadkin 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 North Carolina community of Tilden [Yadkin County].
    • North Dakota
      • Benson County
      • This Tilden is located in Benson County and lies 837 miles [1,347 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Tilden that is located in Randolph County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Benson County community of Tilden.
    • Oklahoma
      • Grant 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 Oklahoma community of Tilden [Grant County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • York 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 Tilden [York County].
    • Texas
      • McMullen County
      • This Tilden is located in McMullen County and lies 844 miles [1,358.3 km]<1> to the southwest of the Tilden that is located in Randolph County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McMullen County community of Tilden.
    • West Virginia
      • Raleigh County
      • This Tilden is located in Raleigh County and lies 464 miles [746.7 km]<1> to the east of the Tilden that is located in Randolph County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Raleigh County community of Tilden.
    • Wisconsin
      • Chippewa County
      • This Tilden is located in Chippewa County and lies 477 miles [767.7 km]<1> to the north of the Tilden that is located in Randolph County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chippewa County community of Tilden.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Tilden ...

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.

  • Blair
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Blair is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blair
  • Eden
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Eden is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
  • Jamestown
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jamestown is located in Perry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown
  • Kampenville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Kampenville is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kampenville
  • Layfield
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Layfield is located in Perry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Layfield
  • Lively Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Lively Grove is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lively Grove
  • Plum Hill
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Plum Hill is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum Hill
  • Prairie
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Prairie is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie
  • Stone Church
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Stone Church is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone Church

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

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

  • Chester, which is the Seat of Randolph County, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Tilden to Chester, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 108 miles [173.8 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 684 miles [1,100.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,438 miles [10,361 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,171 miles [11,540.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,049 miles [8,125.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Tilden) 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 Tilden 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 Tilden 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 Tilden. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.2124, Longitude: -89.6840       In this case, the coordinates for Tilden have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.72 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.292 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.504 degrees.