Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Blackland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blackland and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Blackland
- 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 Blackland:
- 39.761428, -89.103968
- 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 Blackland
- 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 Macon County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Macon County
- Since Blackland is near Christian County and also Sangamon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Christian County
- eBird sighting report for Sangamon 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 Blackland ...
We found six communities that share the name Blackland.
Within Illinois, the name Blackland is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, five are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Mississippi
- New Brunswick
- We haven't found the location of this community yet.
- Oklahoma
- Texas
- McLennan County
- This Blackland is located in McLennan County and lies 718 miles [1,155.5 km]<2> to the southwest of the Blackland that is located in Macon County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the McLennan County community of Blackland.
- Rockwall County
- This Blackland is located in Rockwall County and lies 621 miles [999.4 km] to the southwest of the Blackland that is located in Macon County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rockwall County community of Blackland.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Blackland ...
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.
- Blue Mound
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blue Mound have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Mound
- Blue Mound is located in Macon County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,065 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Blue Mound <4>
- Bolivia
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bolivia
- Bolivia is located in Christian County
- Boody
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boody
- Boody is located in Macon County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Boody <4>
- Bulldog Crossing
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bulldog Crossing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bulldog Crossing
- Bulldog Crossing is located in Macon County
- Grove City
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grove City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove City
- Grove City is located in Christian County
- Harristown
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harristown have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harristown
- Harristown is located in Macon County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,278 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Harristown <4>
- Larkdale
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast) - Longview Place
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Longview Place have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview Place
- Longview Place is located in Macon County
- Sandersville
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sandersville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandersville
- Sandersville is located in Christian County
How Far From Blackland to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Blackland to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Blackland and extending to:
- Decatur, which is the Seat of Macon County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Blackland to Decatur, with an average speed<5> 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.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 29 miles [46.7 km] to the west (W). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 646 miles [1,039.6 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 37 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,340 miles [10,203.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,076 miles [11,387.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,956 miles [7,975.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Blackland. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov
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 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 Blackland 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' (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- Blackland) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Blackland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7614, Longitude: -89.1040 In this case, the coordinates for Blackland have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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. |
| <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 Blackland 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 315.389 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.125 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.857 degrees. |