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.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for McHenry
- 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.
- 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:
- 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:
- eBird sighting report for Lake County
- 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named McHenry ...
We found eight communities that share the name McHenry.
Within Illinois, the name McHenry is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another eight communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Kentucky
- Maryland
- Mississippi
- North Dakota
- Virginia
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)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bull Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bull Valley
- Bull Valley is located in McHenry County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,078 people
- Emerald Park
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Emerald Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emerald Park
- Emerald Park is located in McHenry County
- Ferndale
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast) - Greenwood
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest) - Holiday Hills
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holiday Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hills
- Holiday Hills is located in McHenry County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 574 people
- Johnsburg
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnsburg
- Johnsburg is located in McHenry County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 6,310 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Johnsburg <4>
- Prairie Grove
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prairie Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Grove
- Prairie Grove is located in McHenry County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,920 people
- Riverstream
(Less than 2 miles to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverstream have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverstream
- Riverstream is located in McHenry County
- Sunnyside
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast) - Sunrise Ridge
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunrise Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunrise Ridge
- Sunrise Ridge is located in McHenry County
- Terra Cotta
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Terra Cotta. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terra Cotta
- Terra Cotta is located in McHenry County
- Wonder Center
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wonder Center have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wonder Center
- Wonder Center is located in McHenry County
- Wonder Lake
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wonder Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wonder Lake
- Wonder Lake is located in McHenry County
- 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 <4>
How Far From McHenry 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 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<6>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<7> 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).<8>
- 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).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,811 miles [7,742.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for McHenry: www.ci.mchenry.il.us/
The official website for McHenry County: www.co.mchenry.il.us/
The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- McHenry) to Point B.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). |
| <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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 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> | 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> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <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 McHenry 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 314.873 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.896 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.763 degrees. |