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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Barry, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Barry 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 Barry:
    • 39.694450, -91.039195
    • 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 Barry
  • 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 Pike County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pike County
    • Since Barry is near Adams County and also Pike County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Adams County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pike 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 Barry

Communities Also Named Barry ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Barry.

Within Illinois, the name Barry is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of eleven communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eleven communities, ten are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • British Columbia
      • 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 British Columbia community of Barry.
    • Kansas
      • Coffey 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 Kansas community of Barry [Coffey County].
      • Greenwood County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Barry [Greenwood County].
    • Michigan
      • Jackson 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 Michigan community of Barry [Jackson County].
    • Minnesota
      • Big Stone County
      • This Barry is located in Big Stone County and lies 492 miles [791.8 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Barry that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Big Stone County community of Barry.
    • Missouri
      • Clay County
      • This Barry is located in Clay County and lies 192 miles [309 km]<2> to the west of the Barry that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Barry.
    • Ohio
      • Cuyahoga 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 Ohio community of Barry [Cuyahoga County].
    • Oklahoma
      • Bryan 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 Oklahoma community of Barry [Bryan County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Schuylkill 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 Pennsylvania community of Barry [Schuylkill County].
    • Texas
      • Navarro County
      • This Barry is located in Navarro County and lies 610 miles [981.7 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Barry that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Navarro County community of Barry.
    • Washington
      • Douglas 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 Washington community of Barry [Douglas County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Barry ...

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 Barry 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 city such as Barry to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Pittsfield, which is the Seat of Pike County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Barry to Pittsfield, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 73 miles [117.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 749 miles [1,205.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,414 miles [10,322.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,154 miles [11,513.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,038 miles [8,107.9 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 Barry 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Barry) 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 Barry 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 Barry. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6945, Longitude: -91.0392    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.668 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.585 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.804 degrees.