RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 McHenry, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McHenry 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 McHenry:
    • 42.338875, -88.293381
    • 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 McHenry
  • 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 McHenry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McHenry County
    • Since McHenry is near Lake County and also Walworth County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lake County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Walworth 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 McHenry

Communities Also Named McHenry ...

We found eight communities that are also named McHenry.

Within Illinois, the name McHenry is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Stanislaus County
      • This McHenry is located in Stanislaus County and lies 1,747 miles [2,811.5 km]<1> to the west of the McHenry that is located in McHenry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stanislaus County community of McHenry.
    • Georgia
      • Gordon County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of McHenry [Gordon County].
    • Idaho
      • Jerome County
      • This McHenry is located in Jerome County and lies 1,307 miles [2,103.4 km]<1> to the west of the McHenry that is located in McHenry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jerome County community of McHenry.
    • Kentucky
      • Ohio County
      • This McHenry is located in Ohio County and lies 350 miles [563.3 km]<1> to the south southeast of the McHenry that is located in McHenry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ohio County community of McHenry.
    • Maryland
      • Garrett County
      • This McHenry is located in Garrett County and lies 503 miles [809.5 km]<1> to the east southeast of the McHenry that is located in McHenry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Garrett County community of McHenry.
    • Mississippi
      • Stone County
      • This McHenry is located in Stone County and lies 804 miles [1,293.9 km]<1> to the south of the McHenry that is located in McHenry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stone County community of McHenry.
    • North Dakota
      • Foster County
      • This McHenry is located in Foster County and lies 618 miles [994.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the McHenry that is located in McHenry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Foster County community of McHenry.
    • Virginia
      • Spotsylvania County
      • This McHenry is located in Spotsylvania County and lies 627 miles [1,009.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the McHenry that is located in McHenry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Spotsylvania County community of McHenry.

Curious and Interesting Names Near McHenry ...

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.

  • Bull Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Bull Valley is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bull Valley
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,078 people
  • Emerald Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Emerald Park is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emerald Park
  • Ferndale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Ferndale is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferndale
  • Greenwood
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Greenwood is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 224 people
  • Holiday Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Holiday Hills is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hills
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 574 people
  • Johnsburg
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Prairie Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Prairie Grove is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Grove
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,920 people
  • Riverstream
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Riverstream is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverstream
  • Sunnyside
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Sunnyside is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
  • Sunrise Ridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Sunrise Ridge is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunrise Ridge
  • Terra Cotta
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Terra Cotta is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terra Cotta
  • Wonder Center
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Wonder Center is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wonder Center
  • Wonder Lake
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Wonder Lake is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wonder Lake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,837 people
    • Wonder Lake has also been known as:
    • Wonder Lake village
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wonder Lake <3>

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

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

  • Woodstock, which is the Seat of McHenry County, lies just to the West.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 190 miles [305.8 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from McHenry to Springfield, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 635 miles [1,021.9 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,184 miles [9,952.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,925 miles [11,144.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,811 miles [7,742.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- McHenry) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 McHenry 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 McHenry 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 McHenry. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.3389, Longitude: -88.2934       In this case, the coordinates for McHenry have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.873 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.896 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.763 degrees.