Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Gurney, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gurney and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Gurney
- 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 Gurney:
- 39.899215, -90.050115
- 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 Gurney
- 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 Cass County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Cass County
- Since Gurney is near Morgan County and also Menard County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Morgan County
- eBird sighting report for Menard 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 Gurney ...
We found four communities that share the name Gurney.
Within Illinois, the name Gurney is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another four communities that are located throughout 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 ...
- Idaho
- Kansas
- Ontario
- This Gurney lies 633 miles [1,018.7 km]<1> to the north of the Gurney that is located in Cass County.
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Gurney ...
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.
- Berlin
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast) - Bobtown
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north) - Chandlerville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chandlerville
- Chandlerville is located in Cass County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 487 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Chandlerville <4>
- Claysville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Claysville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claysville
- Claysville is located in Sangamon County
- Hill Top
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast) - Hilltop
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast) - Island Grove
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Island Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island Grove
- Island Grove is located in Sangamon County
- Jordanville ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jordanville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordanville
- Jordanville is located in Morgan County
- Jules
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest) - Continue List (6 more) ...
- Lewisburg
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast) - Little Indian
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Little Indian have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Indian
- Little Indian is located in Cass County
- Orleans
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south) - Pleasant Plains
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Plains have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Plains
- Pleasant Plains is located in Sangamon County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 792 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pleasant Plains <4>
- Savage ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest) - Virginia
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Virginia have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia
- Virginia is located in Cass County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,406 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Virginia <4>
- Lewisburg
How Far From Gurney to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Gurney to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<5> community of Gurney once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Gurney and extending to:
- Virginia, which is the Seat of Cass County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Gurney to Virginia, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 22 miles [35.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 697 miles [1,121.7 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<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,368 miles [10,248.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,106 miles [11,436 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,989 miles [8,029 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
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' (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- Gurney) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Gurney. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.8992, Longitude: -90.0501 In this case, the coordinates for Gurney have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 Gurney 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. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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 Gurney, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Gurney 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 316.017 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.864 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.277 degrees. |