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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Grantsburg, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Grantsburg 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 Grantsburg:
    • 37.390979, -88.747044
    • 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 Grantsburg
  • 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 Johnson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Johnson County
    • Since Grantsburg is near Pope County and also Massac County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pope County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Massac 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 Grantsburg

Communities Also Named Grantsburg ...

We found two communities that are also named Grantsburg.

Within Illinois, the name Grantsburg is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Crawford County
      • This Grantsburg is located in Crawford County and lies 138 miles [222.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Grantsburg that is located in Johnson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Crawford County community of Grantsburg.
    • Wisconsin
      • Burnett County
      • This Grantsburg is located in Burnett County and lies 613 miles [986.5 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Grantsburg that is located in Johnson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Burnett County community of Grantsburg.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Grantsburg ...

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.

  • Big Bay
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Cross Roads ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Cross Roads is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
  • Crossroads
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Crossroads is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossroads
  • Flatwoods
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Flatwoods is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatwoods
  • Pond
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Pond is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pond
  • Rising Sun
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Rising Sun is located in Pope County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rising Sun
  • Rock
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Round Knob
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Round Knob is located in Massac County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Knob
  • Sandburn
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Sandburn is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandburn
  • Temple Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Temple Hill is located in Pope County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temple Hill
  • Tunnel Hill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)

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

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

  • Vienna, which is the Seat of Johnson County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 172 miles [276.8 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Grantsburg to Springfield, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 643 miles [1,034.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,442 miles [10,367.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,170 miles [11,539 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,047 miles [8,122.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Grantsburg) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Grantsburg 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 Grantsburg. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3910, Longitude: -88.7470       In this case, the coordinates for Grantsburg have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.083 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.445 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.265 degrees.