Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Charlotte, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Charlotte and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Charlotte
- 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 Charlotte:
- 40.819578, -88.288994
- 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 Charlotte
- 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 Livingston County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Livingston County
- Since Charlotte is near Ford County and also Iroquois County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Ford County
- eBird sighting report for Iroquois 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 Charlotte ...
We found fifteen communities that share the name Charlotte.
Within Illinois, the name Charlotte is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another fifteen communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Michigan
- Missouri
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Vermont
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Charlotte ...
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.
- Blair
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north) - Campus
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Campus have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campus
- Campus is located in Livingston County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 157 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Campus <5>
- Cereal
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south) - Dickeys
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast) - Dwight
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dwight
- Dwight is located in Livingston County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,984 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dwight <5>
- Leonard
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east) - Melvin
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Melvin have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melvin
- Melvin is located in Ford County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 410 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Melvin <5>
- Pilot Center ‑ Historic
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pilot Center have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilot Center
- Pilot Center is located in Kankakee County
- Piper City
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Piper City have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piper City
- Piper City is located in Ford County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 746 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Piper City <5>
- Risk
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest) - Rugby
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest) - Wing
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wing
- Wing is located in Livingston County
How Far From Charlotte 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 Charlotte to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Charlotte and extending to:
- Pontiac, which is the Seat of Livingston County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Charlotte to Pontiac, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 hours.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 101 miles [162.5 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 610 miles [981.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,258 miles [10,071.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,995 miles [11,257.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,877 miles [7,848.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Charlotte. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Livingston County: www.livingstoncounty-il.org/
The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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- Charlotte) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Charlotte. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.8196, Longitude: -88.2890 In this case, the coordinates for Charlotte have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 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 Charlotte 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> | 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 Charlotte, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Charlotte 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 314.869 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.676 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.187 degrees. |