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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Swinton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Swinton 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 Swinton:
    • 37.027829, -89.944815
    • 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 Swinton
  • 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 Stoddard County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Stoddard County
    • Since Swinton is near Bollinger County and also Cape Girardeau County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bollinger County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cape Girardeau 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 Swinton

Communities Also Named Swinton ...

We found two communities that are also named Swinton.

Within Missouri, the name Swinton is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • North Carolina
      • Moore 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 Swinton [Moore County].
    • South Carolina
      • Sumter County
      • This Swinton is located in Sumter County and lies 575 miles [925.4 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Swinton that is located in Stoddard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sumter County community of Swinton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Swinton ...

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.

  • Advance
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Bell City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Bell City is located in Stoddard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bell City
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 422 people
  • Eaglette
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Eaglette is located in Stoddard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eaglette
  • Green Cox
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Cox is located in Cape Girardeau County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Cox
  • Idlewild
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Idlewild is located in Stoddard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Idlewild
  • Kinder
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Kinder is located in Stoddard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kinder
  • Shady Dell
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Shady Dell is located in Stoddard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Dell
  • Toga
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Toga is located in Stoddard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toga
  • Toppertown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Toppertown is located in Stoddard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toppertown

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

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

  • Bloomfield, which is the Seat of Stoddard County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Swinton to Bloomfield, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 162 miles [260.7 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 713 miles [1,147.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,507 miles [10,472 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,236 miles [11,645.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,113 miles [8,228.6 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Swinton 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- Swinton) 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 Swinton 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 Swinton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.0278, Longitude: -89.9448       In this case, the coordinates for Swinton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.835 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.263 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.888 degrees.