Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Beecher, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Beecher and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Beecher
- 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 Beecher:
- 41.346193, -87.621421
- 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 Beecher
- 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 Will County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Will County
- Since Beecher is near Kankakee County and also Lake County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Kankakee County
- eBird sighting report for Lake 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Beecher ...
We found seven communities that share the name Beecher.
Within Illinois, the name Beecher is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these seven communities, six are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Kansas
- Michigan
- Ohio
- Ontario
- Oregon
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Beecher ...
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 Lake
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Lake
- Cedar Lake is located in Lake County (IN)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 13,588 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cedar Lake <5>
- Claus
(Less than 2 miles to the north) - Cook
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east) - Crete
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crete have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crete
- Crete is located in Will County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 7,938 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crete <5>
- Eagle Lake
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eagle Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Lake
- Eagle Lake is located in Will County
- Indian Hill
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hill
- Indian Hill is located in Cook County
- Park Forest
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Forest
- Park Forest is located in Cook County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 20,937 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Park Forest <5>
- Polk
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south) - University Park
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for University Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Park
- University Park is located in Will County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 6,817 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for University Park <5>
- Willowbrook
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Willowbrook have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willowbrook
- Willowbrook is located in Will County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Willowbrook <5>
How Far From Beecher 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 village such as Beecher to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Beecher and extending to:
- Joliet, which is the Seat of Will County, lies 26 miles [41.8 km]<3> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Beecher to Joliet, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 151 miles [243 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 583 miles [938.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 34 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,207 miles [9,989.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,945 miles [11,176.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,827 miles [7,768.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Beecher: www.villageofbeecher.org/
The official website for Will County: www.willcountyillinois.com/
The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Beecher, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Beecher 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> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Beecher) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Beecher. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.3462, Longitude: -87.6214 |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Beecher to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.43 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.249 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.715 degrees. |