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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Conover, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Conover 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 Conover:
    • 40.177267, -90.024005
    • 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 Conover
  • 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 Mason County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mason County
    • Since Conover is near Menard County and also Fulton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Menard County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fulton 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 Conover

Communities Also Named Conover ...

We found seven communities that are also named Conover.

There is one other community in Illinois that is also named Conover.

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

  • Communities Located In Illinois ...
    • Kendall 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 Illinois community of Conover [Kendall County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Winneshiek County
      • This Conover is located in Winneshiek County and lies 230 miles [370.1 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Conover that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Winneshiek County community of Conover.
    • North Carolina
      • Catawba County
      • This Conover is located in Catawba County and lies 569 miles [915.7 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Conover that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Catawba County community of Conover.
    • Ohio
      • Miami County
      • This Conover is located in Miami County and lies 315 miles [506.9 km]<2> to the east of the Conover that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Miami County community of Conover.
    • Ontario
      • This Conover lies 572 miles [920.5 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Conover that is located in Mason County.
    • Wisconsin
      • Oneida 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 Wisconsin community of Conover [Oneida County].
      • Vilas County
      • This Conover is located in Vilas County and lies 407 miles [655 km]<2> to the north of the Conover that is located in Mason County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Vilas County community of Conover.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Conover ...

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.

  • Bath
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Bobtown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Bobtown is located in Menard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bobtown
  • Havana
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Long Branch
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Long Branch is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Branch
  • Marbletown
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Marbletown is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marbletown
  • Moscow ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Moscow is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moscow
  • Peterville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Peterville is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peterville
  • Poplar City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Wolf Lake
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Wolf Lake is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf Lake

How Far From Conover 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 community such as Conover to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Havana, which is the Seat of Mason County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 33 miles [53.1 km]<2> to the southeast (SE). If you could walk a straight line from Conover to Springfield, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 696 miles [1,120.1 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 40 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,353 miles [10,224.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,092 miles [11,413.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,975 miles [8,006.5 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Conover 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Conover) 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 Conover 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 Conover. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1773, Longitude: -90.0240       In this case, the coordinates for Conover have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.007 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.891 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.196 degrees.