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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Mackinaw Dells, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mackinaw Dells and the surrounding area.
- 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 Mackinaw Dells:
- 40.623926, -89.230918
- 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 Mackinaw Dells
- 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 Woodford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Woodford County
- Since Mackinaw Dells is near McLean County and also Tazewell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for McLean County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Tazewell 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 Mackinaw Dells
Communities Also Named Mackinaw Dells ...
We found one communities that are also named Mackinaw Dells.
There is one other community in Illinois that is also named Mackinaw Dells.
Beyond Illinois.
- Communities Located In Illinois ...
- Tazewell 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 Illinois community of Mackinaw Dells [Tazewell County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Mackinaw Dells ...
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.
- Bowling Green ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Bowling Green is located in Woodford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowling Green
- Carlock
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Cooper
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Cooper is located in Tazewell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooper
- Deer Creek
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Eureka
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Farmsville ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Farmsville is located in Woodford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmsville
- Lilly
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Lilly is located in Tazewell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lilly
- Twin Grove
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Twin Grove is located in McLean County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Grove
- Walnut
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Walnut is located in Tazewell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut
How Far From Mackinaw Dells 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 Mackinaw Dells to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Mackinaw Dells and extending to:
- Eureka, which is the Seat of Woodford County, lies just to the North Northwest.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 62 miles [99.8 km]<3> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could walk a straight line from Mackinaw Dells to Springfield, with an average speed<4> 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 657 miles [1,057.3 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 26 days and walking would take 38 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,302 miles [10,142.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,041 miles [11,331.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,924 miles [7,924.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
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 Mackinaw Dells 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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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- Mackinaw Dells) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | 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 Mackinaw Dells 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 Mackinaw Dells. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6239, Longitude: -89.2309 In this case, the coordinates for Mackinaw Dells have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.489 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.359 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.697 degrees. |
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