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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 West City, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West City 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 West City:
- 37.996167, -88.946989
- 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 West City
- 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 Franklin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin County
- Since West City is near Williamson County and also Jefferson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Williamson County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson 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 West City
Curious and Interesting Names Near West City ...
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.
- Christopher
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Freeman Spur
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Freeman Spur is located in Williamson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman Spur
- Population from the 2020 Census: 276 people
- Freeman Spur has also been known as:
- Freeman Spur village
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Freeman Spur <1>
- Greenville ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Greenville is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenville
- Hickory Corners
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Hickory Corners is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Corners
- Jenkins
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Jenkins is located in Williamson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins
- Lake Creek
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Lake Creek is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Creek
- Mitchell
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Mitchell is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mitchell
- Plumfield
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Plumfield is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plumfield
- Rust
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Rust is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rust
- Smothersville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Smothersville is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smothersville
- Steel City
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Steel City is located in Franklin County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steel City
How Far From West City 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 village such as West City to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in West City and extending to:
- Benton, which is the Seat of Franklin County, lies just to the East Northeast.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 129 miles [207.6 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from West City to Springfield, with an average speed<3>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 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 646 miles [1,039.6 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 37 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,421 miles [10,333.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,151 miles [11,508.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,028 miles [8,091.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <2> | 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- West City) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 West City 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 West City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9962, Longitude: -88.9470 In this case, the coordinates for West City have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.235 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.703 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.215 degrees. |
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