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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Blue Mound, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blue Mound 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 Blue Mound:
- 39.700486, -89.118724
- 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 Blue Mound
- 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:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Macon County
- Since Blue Mound is near Christian County and also Shelby County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Christian County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby 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 Blue Mound
Communities Also Named Blue Mound ...
We found five communities that are also named Blue Mound.
Within Illinois, the name Blue Mound is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Kansas
- 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 Kansas community of Blue Mound [Douglas County].
- Linn County
- This Blue Mound is located in Linn County and lies 335 miles [539.1 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Blue Mound that is located in Macon County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Linn County community of Blue Mound.
- Wallace 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 Blue Mound [Wallace County].
- Missouri
- Livingston County
- This Blue Mound is located in Livingston County and lies 235 miles [378.2 km]<2> to the west of the Blue Mound that is located in Macon County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Livingston County community of Blue Mound.
- Texas
- Tarrant County
- This Blue Mound is located in Tarrant County and lies 657 miles [1,057.3 km]<2> to the southwest of the Blue Mound that is located in Macon County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tarrant County community of Blue Mound.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Blue Mound ...
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.
- Assumption
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Blueville
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Blueville is located in Christian County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blueville
- Bolivia
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Bolivia is located in Christian County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bolivia
- Boody
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Bulldog Crossing
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Bulldog Crossing is located in Macon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bulldog Crossing
- Edinburg
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Grove City
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Grove City is located in Christian County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove City
- Harristown
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Longview Place
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
- Longview Place is located in Macon County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview Place
- Sandersville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Sandersville is located in Christian County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandersville
How Far From Blue Mound to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a village such as Blue Mound to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Blue Mound and extending to:
- Decatur, which is the Seat of Macon County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Blue Mound to Decatur, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day 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 28 miles [45.1 km] to the west northwest (WNW). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 647 miles [1,041.2 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,343 miles [10,208.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,079 miles [11,392.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,960 miles [7,982.3 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 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 Blue Mound 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Blue Mound) 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 Blue Mound 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 Blue Mound. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7005, Longitude: -89.1187 In this case, the coordinates for Blue Mound have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.397 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.126 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.879 degrees. |
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