RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> McLean County >> Hawthorne Hills >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hawthorne Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hawthorne Hills 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 Hawthorne Hills:
    • 40.506147, -88.918962
    • 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 Hawthorne Hills
  • 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 McLean County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McLean County
    • Since Hawthorne Hills is near Woodford County and also De Witt County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Woodford County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for De Witt 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 Hawthorne Hills

Communities Also Named Hawthorne Hills ...

We found two communities that are also named Hawthorne Hills.

Within Illinois, the name Hawthorne Hills is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Lake County
      • This Hawthorne Hills is located in Lake County and lies 101 miles [162.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the Hawthorne Hills that is located in McLean County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lake County community of Hawthorne Hills.
    • Washington
      • King County
      • This Hawthorne Hills is located in King County and lies 1,711 miles [2,753.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Hawthorne Hills that is located in McLean County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the King County community of Hawthorne Hills.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Hawthorne Hills ...

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.

  • Burns
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Burns is located in McLean County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burns
  • Downs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Eagle Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Eagle Ridge is located in McLean County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Ridge
  • Hedgewood
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Hedgewood is located in McLean County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hedgewood
  • Holder
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Holder is located in McLean County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holder
  • Normal
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Randolph
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Randolph is located in McLean County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph
  • Shamrock
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Shamrock is located in McLean County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock
  • Twin Grove
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Twin Grove is located in McLean County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Grove

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

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

  • Bloomington, which is the Seat of McLean County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 63 miles [101.4 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could walk a straight line from Hawthorne Hills to Springfield, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 640 miles [1,030 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,296 miles [10,132.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,034 miles [11,320.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,916 miles [7,911.5 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Hawthorne Hills) 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 Hawthorne Hills 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 Hawthorne Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5061, Longitude: -88.9190       In this case, the coordinates for Hawthorne Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.281 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.104 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.576 degrees.