RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Will County >> Fond du Lac >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Fond du Lac, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fond du Lac 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 Fond du Lac:
    • 41.568056, -88.220833
    • 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 Fond du Lac
  • 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 Will County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Will County
    • Since Fond du Lac is near Grundy County and also Kendall County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grundy County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kendall 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 Fond du Lac

Communities Also Named Fond du Lac ...

We found four communities that are also named Fond du Lac.

Within Illinois, the name Fond du Lac is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Brown 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 Fond du Lac [Brown County].
    • Minnesota
      • Saint Louis County
      • This Fond du Lac is located in Saint Louis County and lies 404 miles [650.2 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Fond du Lac that is located in Will County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis County community of Fond du Lac.
    • Saskatchewan
      • This Fond du Lac lies 1,470 miles [2,365.7 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Fond du Lac that is located in Will County.
    • Wisconsin
      • Fond du Lac County
      • This Fond du Lac is located in Fond du Lac County and lies 152 miles [244.6 km]<2> to the north of the Fond du Lac that is located in Will County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fond du Lac County community of Fond du Lac.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fond du Lac ...

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.

  • Crystal Lawns
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Crystal Lawns is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lawns
  • Erin
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Erin is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erin
  • Grand Prairie
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Grand Prairie is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Prairie
  • Hunt Club
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Hunt Club is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunt Club
  • Liberty Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Liberty Grove is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Grove
  • Pheasant Landing
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Pheasant Landing is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pheasant Landing
  • Pleasant Knoll
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Pleasant Knoll is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Knoll
  • Prairie Trail
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Prairie Trail is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Trail
  • Riverwalk
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Riverwalk is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverwalk
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Spangler Farms
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Spangler Farms is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spangler Farms
    • Squires Mill
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Squires Mill is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Squires Mill
    • Sunset Hills
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Sunset Hills is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Hills
    • Sunset Ridge
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Sunset Ridge is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Ridge
    • Vintage Harvest
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Vintage Harvest is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vintage Harvest
    • Winding Creek
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Winding Creek is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winding Creek

How Far From Fond du Lac 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 Fond du Lac to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Joliet, which is the Seat of Will County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 144 miles [231.7 km]<2> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Fond du Lac to Springfield, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 617 miles [993 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,219 miles [10,008.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,958 miles [11,197.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,842 miles [7,792.4 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 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 Fond du Lac 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' (or 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- Fond du Lac) 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 Fond du Lac 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 Fond du Lac. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5681, Longitude: -88.2208       In this case, the coordinates for Fond du Lac have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.827 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.734 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.946 degrees.