RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Missouri >> New Madrid County >> Gideon >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gideon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gideon 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 Gideon:
    • 36.448879, -89.912769
    • 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 Gideon
  • 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 New Madrid County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for New Madrid County
    • Since Gideon is near Dunklin County and also Pemiscot County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dunklin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pemiscot 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 Gideon

Communities Also Named Gideon ...

We found four communities that are also named Gideon.

Within Missouri, the name Gideon is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Douglas 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 Gideon [Douglas County].
    • Oklahoma
      • Cherokee County
      • This Gideon is located in Cherokee County and lies 286 miles [460.3 km]<2> to the west of the Gideon that is located in New Madrid County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cherokee County community of Gideon.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Somerset County
      • This Gideon is located in Somerset County and lies 639 miles [1,028.4 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Gideon that is located in New Madrid County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Somerset County community of Gideon.
    • South Carolina
      • Horry County
      • This Gideon is located in Horry County and lies 626 miles [1,007.4 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Gideon that is located in New Madrid County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Horry County community of Gideon.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gideon ...

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.

  • Forest Spur
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Forest Spur is located in New Madrid County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Spur
  • Frisbee
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Frisbee is located in Dunklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frisbee
  • Homestown
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Homestown is located in Pemiscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homestown
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 128 people
  • Lone Star
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Lone Star is located in New Madrid County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Star
  • Page
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Page is located in Dunklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Page
  • Peach Orchard
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Peach Orchard is located in Pemiscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peach Orchard
  • Pine City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Pine City is located in Dunklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine City
  • Providence
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Providence is located in Dunklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
  • Spoonerville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Spoonerville is located in Dunklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spoonerville

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

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

  • New Madrid, which is the Seat of New Madrid County, lies 22 miles [35.4 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Gideon to New Madrid, 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.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 192 miles [309 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 723 miles [1,163.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,534 miles [10,515.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,262 miles [11,687.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,138 miles [8,268.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Gideon 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Gideon) 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 Gideon 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 Gideon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.4489, Longitude: -89.9128       In this case, the coordinates for Gideon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.783 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.124 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.997 degrees.