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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Villa Ridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Villa Ridge 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 Villa Ridge:
- 37.158816, -89.194755
- 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 Villa Ridge
- 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 Pulaski County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Pulaski County
- Since Villa Ridge is near Alexander County and also Ballard County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Alexander County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Ballard 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 Villa Ridge
Communities Also Named Villa Ridge ...
We found four communities that are also named Villa Ridge.
There is one other community in Illinois that is also named Villa Ridge.
Beyond Illinois, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Located In Illinois ...
- Madison 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 Illinois community of Villa Ridge [Madison County].
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Mississippi
- Pearl River 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 Mississippi community of Villa Ridge [Pearl River County].
- Missouri
- Franklin County
- This Villa Ridge is located in Franklin County and lies 129 miles [207.6 km]<2> to the northwest of the Villa Ridge that is located in Pulaski County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Villa Ridge.
- Oregon
- Multnomah County
- This Villa Ridge is located in Multnomah County and lies 1,816 miles [2,922.6 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Villa Ridge that is located in Pulaski County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Multnomah County community of Villa Ridge.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Villa Ridge ...
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.
- America
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- America is located in Pulaski County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for America
- Cache
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Frog City ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Golden Lily
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Golden Lily is located in Alexander County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden Lily
- Mound City
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Mounds
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Mounds is located in Pulaski County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mounds
- Population from the 2020 Census: 666 people
- Pryortown
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Pryortown is located in Pulaski County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pryortown
- Unity
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
How Far From Villa Ridge 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 Villa Ridge to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Villa Ridge and extending to:
- Mound City, which is the Seat of Pulaski County, lies just to the South Southeast.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 182 miles [292.9 km]<2> to the north (N). If you could drive a straight line from Villa Ridge to Springfield, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 671 miles [1,079.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,471 miles [10,414.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,199 miles [11,585.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,076 miles [8,169 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
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 Villa Ridge 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Villa Ridge) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Villa Ridge 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 Villa Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.1588, Longitude: -89.1948 |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.36 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.732 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.52 degrees. |
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