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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Zenobia, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Zenobia 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 Zenobia:
    • 39.527132, -89.533675
    • 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 Zenobia
  • 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 Christian County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Christian County
    • Since Zenobia is near Montgomery County and also Sangamon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sangamon 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 Zenobia

Communities Also Named Zenobia ...

We found four communities that are also named Zenobia.

Within Illinois, the name Zenobia is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Crawford 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 Arkansas community of Zenobia [Crawford County].
    • Kansas
      • Scott 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 Kansas community of Zenobia [Scott County].
    • Nevada
      • Washoe County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nevada community of Zenobia [Washoe County].
    • Virginia
      • Washington County
      • This Zenobia is located in Washington County and lies 441 miles [709.7 km]<3> to the east southeast of the Zenobia that is located in Christian County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Zenobia.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Zenobia ...

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.

  • Berry
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Berry is located in Sangamon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berry
  • Blueville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Blueville is located in Christian County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blueville
  • Cascade
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Cascade is located in Sangamon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cascade
  • Cotton Hill
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Cotton Hill is located in Sangamon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotton Hill
  • Edinburg
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Farmersville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Glenarm
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Irwins Park
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Irwins Park is located in Sangamon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irwins Park
  • Lemmon ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Lemmon is located in Sangamon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lemmon
  • New City
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • New City is located in Sangamon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New City
  • Tower Heights
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Tower Heights is located in Sangamon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tower Heights

How Far From Zenobia to ...

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

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

  • Taylorville, which is the Seat of Christian County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<3> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Zenobia to Taylorville, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 18 miles [29 km] to the north northwest (NNW). The buggy would take five to six hours and walking would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 669 miles [1,076.7 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 38 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,367 miles [10,246.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,103 miles [11,431.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,984 miles [8,021 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 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 Zenobia 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Zenobia, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 from Point A (ie- Zenobia) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Zenobia 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 Zenobia. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.5271, Longitude: -89.5337       In this case, the coordinates for Zenobia have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.666 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.41 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.12 degrees.