RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> La Salle County >> Bailey Falls >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Illinois


The Commemorative Quarter for Illinois







Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Bailey Falls, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bailey Falls and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Bailey Falls:
    • 41.277257, -89.044248
    • 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.
    • The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Bailey Falls
  • 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:
    • Waymark.com

Curious and Interesting Names Near Bailey Falls ...

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.

  • Cedar Point
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Point have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Point
    • Cedar Point is located in La Salle County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 251 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cedar Point <2>
  • Deer Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Deer Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Park
    • Deer Park is located in La Salle County
  • Farm Ridge
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Farm Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farm Ridge
    • Farm Ridge is located in La Salle County
  • Jonesville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jonesville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonesville
    • Jonesville is located in La Salle County
  • Little Rock ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Little Rock have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Rock
    • Little Rock is located in La Salle County
  • Peru
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peru
    • Peru is located in La Salle County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,612 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Peru <2>
  • Spring Valley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
    • Spring Valley is located in Bureau County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,065 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Spring Valley <2>
  • Standard
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Tomahawk Bluff
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tomahawk Bluff have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomahawk Bluff
    • Tomahawk Bluff is located in La Salle County

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Bailey Falls once stood, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Bailey Falls and extending to:

  • Ottawa, which is the Seat of La Salle County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<4> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Bailey Falls to Ottawa, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 108 miles [173.8 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 654 miles [1,052.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 38 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 7,003 miles [11,270.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,887 miles [7,864.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>

The official website for La Salle County: www.lasallecounty.org/

The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Bailey Falls, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Bailey Falls) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bailey Falls. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.2773, Longitude: -89.0442       In this case, the coordinates for Bailey Falls have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Bailey Falls to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.373 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.317 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.432 degrees.









 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 21 Apr 2025