RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Missouri >> Dallas County >> Mathis >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mathis, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mathis 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 Mathis:
    • 37.721705, -93.165468
    • 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 Mathis
  • 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 Dallas County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dallas County
    • Since Mathis is near Polk County and also Hickory County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Polk County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hickory 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 Mathis

Communities Also Named Mathis ...

We found three communities that are also named Mathis.

Within Missouri, the name Mathis is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • North Carolina
      • Forsyth 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 North Carolina community of Mathis [Forsyth County].
    • South Carolina
      • Allendale 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 South Carolina community of Mathis [Allendale County].
    • Texas
      • San Patricio County
      • This Mathis is located in San Patricio County and lies 717 miles [1,153.9 km]<3> to the south southwest of the Mathis that is located in Dallas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Patricio County community of Mathis.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mathis ...

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.

  • Buffalo
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Cloverdale
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Cloverdale is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
  • Dewey ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Dewey is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dewey
  • Goodson
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Goodson is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodson
  • Halfway
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Halfway is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halfway
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 179 people
  • Louisburg
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Louisburg is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Louisburg
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 116 people
  • Mohawk Corner
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Mohawk Corner is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mohawk Corner
  • Polk
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Polk is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polk
  • Pumpkin Center
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Pumpkin Center is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumpkin Center
  • Sentinel
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Sentinel is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sentinel
    • Former name for Sentinel:
    • Sentinel Prairie
  • Violet
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Violet is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Violet

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

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

  • Buffalo, which is the Seat of Dallas County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 79 miles [127.1 km]<3> to the northeast (NE). If you could drive a straight line from Mathis to Jefferson City, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 876 miles [1,409.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 35 days and walking would take 50 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,592 miles [10,608.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,331 miles [11,798.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,214 miles [8,391.1 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 Mathis 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 Mathis, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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- Mathis) 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 Mathis 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 Mathis. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.7217, Longitude: -93.1655       In this case, the coordinates for Mathis have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.99 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.847 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.24 degrees.