RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Franklin County >> West Frankfort >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Frankfort, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Frankfort 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 West Frankfort:
    • 37.900314, -88.929508
    • 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 Frankfort
  • 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 Frankfort is near Williamson County and also Saline 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 Saline 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 Frankfort

Communities Also Named West Frankfort ...

We found two communities that are also named West Frankfort.

Within Illinois, the name West Frankfort is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Franklin 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 Kentucky community of West Frankfort [Franklin County].
    • New York
      • Herkimer County
      • This West Frankfort is located in Herkimer County and lies 805 miles [1,295.5 km]<2> to the east northeast of the West Frankfort that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Herkimer County community of West Frankfort.

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Frankfort ...

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.

  • Chittyville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Chittyville is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chittyville
  • Freeman Spur
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • 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 <3>
  • Greenville ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Greenville is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenville
  • Hickory Corners
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Hickory Corners is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Corners
  • Jenkins
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jenkins is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins
  • Lake Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Lake Creek is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Creek
  • Mitchell
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Mitchell is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mitchell
  • Paineville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Paineville is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paineville
  • Plumfield
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Plumfield is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plumfield
  • Shakerag
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Shakerag is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shakerag
  • Smothersville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Smothersville is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smothersville
  • Steel City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Steel City is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steel City

How Far From West Frankfort 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 city such as West Frankfort to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Benton, which is the Seat of Franklin County, lies just to the North.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 135 miles [217.3 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from West Frankfort to Springfield, with an average speed<4>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 6 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,425 miles [10,340 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,154 miles [11,513.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,032 miles [8,098.2 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 West Frankfort 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- West Frankfort) 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 West Frankfort 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 Frankfort. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9003, Longitude: -88.9295       In this case, the coordinates for West Frankfort have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.22 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.673 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.229 degrees.