RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Cook County >> The Courts >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in The Courts, we use the following websites to find information relevant to The Courts and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 The Courts:
    • 42.106389, -87.841389
    • 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 The Courts
  • 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 Cook County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cook County
    • Since The Courts is near Lake County and also DuPage County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lake County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DuPage 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 The Courts

Communities Also Named The Courts ...

We found one communities that are also named The Courts.

Within Illinois, the name The Courts is unique.

Beyond Illinois, there is another community also named The Courts in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Montana
      • Gallatin 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 Montana community of The Courts [Gallatin County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near The Courts ...

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.

  • Ancient Tree
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Ancient Tree is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ancient Tree
  • Arrowhead
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Arrowhead is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arrowhead
  • Birch Pond
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Birch Pond is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birch Pond
  • Cobblewood
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Cobblewood is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cobblewood
  • Covenant Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Covenant Village is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Covenant Village
  • Cozy Corner
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Cozy Corner is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cozy Corner
  • Fox Hedge
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Fox Hedge is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Hedge
  • Fox Run
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Fox Run is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Run
  • Heathercrest
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Heathercrest is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heathercrest
  • Indian Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Indian Ridge is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Ridge
  • Mallard Creek
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Mallard Creek is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mallard Creek
  • Maple Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Maple Ridge is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Ridge
  • Continue List   (11 more) ...
    • Meadow Green
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Meadow Green is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Green
    • Royal Court
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Royal Court is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Court
    • Solar Grove
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Solar Grove is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Solar Grove
    • Stonebrook
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Stonebrook is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonebrook
    • Stonegate
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Stonegate is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonegate
    • Summerhill
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Summerhill is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerhill
    • Sunset Fields
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Sunset Fields is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Fields
    • Sycamore Lane
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Sycamore Lane is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore Lane
    • Willow Cove
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Willow Cove is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Cove
    • Willow Creek
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Willow Creek is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Creek
    • Willow Wood
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Willow Wood is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Wood

How Far From The Courts 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 The Courts to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in The Courts and extending to:

  • Chicago, which is the Seat of Cook County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<2> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from The Courts to Chicago, with an average speed<3> 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 186 miles [299.3 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 608 miles [978.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,179 miles [9,944.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,919 miles [11,135.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,803 miles [7,729.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 The Courts 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- The Courts) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 The Courts 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 The Courts. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1064, Longitude: -87.8414       In this case, the coordinates for The Courts have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.573 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.52 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.604 degrees.