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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Racket, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Racket 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 Racket:
    • 38.293357, -93.492152
    • 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 Racket
  • 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 Benton County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Benton County
    • Since Racket is near Henry County and also Saint Clair County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henry County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Clair 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 Racket

Communities Also Named Racket ...

We found two communities that are also named Racket.

Within Missouri, the name Racket is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Virginia
      • Lunenburg 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 Virginia community of Racket [Lunenburg County].
    • West Virginia
      • Gilmer County
      • This Racket is located in Gilmer County and lies 678 miles [1,091.1 km]<2> to the east of the Racket that is located in Benton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gilmer County community of Racket.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Racket ...

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.

  • Coal
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Coal is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal
  • Cold Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Cold Springs is located in Benton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Springs
  • Fox Run
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Fox Run is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Run
  • Hortense
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Hortense is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hortense
  • Leesville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Leesville is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leesville
  • Macks Camp
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Macks Camp is located in Benton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Macks Camp
  • Opportunity Farms
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Opportunity Farms is located in Benton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Opportunity Farms
  • Roseland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Roseland is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseland
  • Tightwad
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Tightwad is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tightwad
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 61 people
  • Wisdom
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Wisdom is located in Benton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wisdom

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

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

  • Warsaw, which is the Seat of Benton County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 73 miles [117.5 km]<2> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Racket to Jefferson City, with an average speed<3>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 887 miles [1,427.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 35 days and walking would take 51 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,575 miles [10,581.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,316 miles [11,774 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,200 miles [8,368.6 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 Racket 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 from Point A (ie- Racket) 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 Racket 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 Racket. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.2934, Longitude: -93.4922       In this case, the coordinates for Racket have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.245 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.217 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.286 degrees.