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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ayers, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ayers 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 Ayers:
    • 42.05573, -90.113515
    • 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 Ayers
  • 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 Carroll County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Carroll County
    • Since Ayers is near Jackson County and also Clinton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clinton 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 Ayers

Communities Also Named Ayers ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Ayers.

There are two communities within Illinois that are also named Ayers.

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

  • Communities Located In Illinois ...
    • Bond County
      • This Ayers is located in Bond County and lies 216 miles [347.6 km]<1> to the south of the Ayers that is located in Carroll County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bond County community of Ayers.
    • Champaign County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Ayers [Champaign County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Hernando County
      • This Ayers is located in Hernando County and lies 1,032 miles [1,660.8 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Ayers that is located in Carroll County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hernando County community of Ayers.
    • Kentucky
      • Whitley County
      • This Ayers is located in Whitley County and lies 488 miles [785.4 km]<1> to the southeast of the Ayers that is located in Carroll County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Whitley County community of Ayers.
    • Maine
      • Washington County
      • This Ayers is located in Washington County and lies 1,159 miles [1,865.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Ayers that is located in Carroll County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Ayers.
    • Mississippi
      • Attala County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Mississippi community of Ayers [Attala County].
    • South Carolina
      • Marlboro County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Ayers [Marlboro County].
    • Tennessee
      • Dyer County
      • This Ayers is located in Dyer County and lies 413 miles [664.7 km]<1> to the south of the Ayers that is located in Carroll County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dyer County community of Ayers.
    • Virginia
      • Scott County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Ayers [Scott County].
    • West Virginia
      • Calhoun County
      • This Ayers is located in Calhoun County and lies 518 miles [833.6 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Ayers that is located in Carroll County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Calhoun County community of Ayers.
    • Wyoming
      • Platte County
      • This Ayers is located in Platte County and lies 762 miles [1,226.3 km]<1> to the west of the Ayers that is located in Carroll County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Platte County community of Ayers.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ayers ...

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.

How Far From Ayers to ...

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

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

  • Mount Carroll, which is the Seat of Carroll County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 158 miles [254.3 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Ayers to Springfield, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 719 miles [1,157.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,263 miles [10,079.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,007 miles [11,276.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,896 miles [7,879.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Ayers) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Ayers 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.
<3>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 Ayers, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Ayers 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 Ayers. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.0557, Longitude: -90.1135    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.098 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.254 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.758 degrees.