Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in New Michigan, we use the following websites to find information relevant to New Michigan and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for New Michigan
- 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 New Michigan:
- 41.055033, -88.742847
- 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 New Michigan
- 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 Livingston County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Livingston County
- Since New Michigan is near La Salle County and also Grundy County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for La Salle County
- eBird sighting report for Grundy 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
Curious and Interesting Names Near New Michigan ...
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.
- Budd
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast) - Coalville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest) - Katy Did
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast) - Long Point
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Point have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Point
- Long Point is located in Livingston County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 212 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Long Point <2>
- Manville
(Less than 2 miles to the west) - Munster
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Munster
- Munster is located in Livingston County
- Otter ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north) - Ransom
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ransom
- Ransom is located in La Salle County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 350 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ransom <2>
- Reading
(5 miles [8 km] to the west) - Richards
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
How Far From New Michigan 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 community such as New Michigan 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<3> community of New Michigan once stood, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in New Michigan and extending to:
- Pontiac, which is the Seat of Livingston County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<4> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from New Michigan to Pontiac, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 100 miles [160.9 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 636 miles [1,023.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 37 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,263 miles [10,079.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,002 miles [11,268.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,885 miles [7,861.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Livingston County: www.livingstoncounty-il.org/
The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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. |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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 New Michigan, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- New Michigan) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in New Michigan. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.0550, Longitude: -88.7428 In this case, the coordinates for New Michigan have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 New Michigan to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.171 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.055 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.344 degrees. |