Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Essex, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Essex and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Essex
- 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 Essex:
- 41.180468, -88.185789
- 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 Essex
- 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 Kankakee County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Kankakee County
- Since Essex is near Grundy County and also Will County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Grundy County
- eBird sighting report for Will 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 Essex ...
We found 32 communities that share the name Essex.
There are two communities within Illinois that are also named Essex.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another 30 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 30 communities, 31 are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Located In Illinois ...
- Cook County
- Will County
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- California
- Humboldt County
- This Essex is located in Humboldt County and lies 1,853 miles [2,982.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Essex that is located in Kankakee County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Humboldt County community of Essex.
- Nevada County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Essex [Nevada County].
- San Bernardino County
- This Essex is located in San Bernardino County and lies 1,531 miles [2,463.9 km] to the west of the Essex that is located in Kankakee County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Bernardino County community of Essex.
- Connecticut
- Georgia
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Finney County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Essex [Finney County].
- Shawnee 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 Essex [Shawnee County].
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Essex County
- This Essex is located in Essex County and lies 898 miles [1,445.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Essex that is located in Kankakee County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Essex County community of Essex.
- Suffolk County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Massachusetts community of Essex [Suffolk County].
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New York
- North Carolina
- Halifax County
- This Essex is located in Halifax County and lies 647 miles [1,041.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Essex that is located in Kankakee County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Halifax County community of Essex.
- Henderson County
- This Essex is located in Henderson County and lies 507 miles [815.9 km] to the southeast of the Essex that is located in Kankakee County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Henderson County community of Essex.
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Fulton County
- This community is historic<2> and although located in Fulton County, we don't know where within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fulton County community of Essex.
- Lawrence County
- This Essex is located in Lawrence County and lies 352 miles [566.5 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Essex that is located in Kankakee County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lawrence County community of Essex.
- Union County
- This Essex is located in Union County and lies 258 miles [415.2 km] to the east of the Essex that is located in Kankakee County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Union County community of Essex.
- Ontario
- This Essex lies 285 miles [458.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Essex that is located in Kankakee County.
- Vermont
- Washington
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Essex ...
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
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest) - Braidwood
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Braidwood
- Braidwood is located in Will County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 6,148 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Braidwood <5>
- Carbon Hill
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carbon Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carbon Hill
- Carbon Hill is located in Grundy County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 334 people
- Centerville ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Centerville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
- Centerville is located in Grundy County
- Coal City
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coal City have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal City
- Coal City is located in Grundy County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,351 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Coal City <5>
- Diamond
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Diamond have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond
- Diamond is located in Grundy County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,484 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Diamond <5>
- Eileen
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest) - Pilot Center ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)- 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
- Resthaven
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast) - Union Hill
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill
- Union Hill is located in Kankakee County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 56 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Union Hill <5>
How Far From Essex 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 village such as Essex to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Essex and extending to:
- Kankakee, which is the Seat of Kankakee County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Essex to Kankakee, with an average speed<6> 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 five to six hours.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 123 miles [197.9 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 609 miles [980.1 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<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,236 miles [10,035.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,974 miles [11,223.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,857 miles [7,816.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Essex. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Kankakee County: www.co.kankakee.il.us/
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- Essex) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Essex. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.1805, Longitude: -88.1858 |
| <2> | 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 Essex, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 Essex 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. |
| <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 Essex 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 314.803 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.651 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.037 degrees. |