RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Stephenson County >> Pearl City >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Pearl City, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Pearl City 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 Pearl City:
    • 42.264336, -89.827548
    • 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 Pearl City
  • 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 Stephenson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Stephenson County
    • Since Pearl City is near Jo Daviess County and also Carroll County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jo Daviess County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Carroll 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 Pearl City

Communities Also Named Pearl City ...

We found six communities that are also named Pearl City.

Within Illinois, the name Pearl City is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Hawaii
      • This Pearl City lies 4,134 miles [6,653 km]<1> to the west of the Pearl City that is located in Stephenson County.
    • Kansas
      • Stevens 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 Kansas community of Pearl City [Stevens County].
    • Mississippi
      • Rankin 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 Mississippi community of Pearl City [Rankin County].
    • Missouri
      • Putnam County
      • This Pearl City is located in Putnam County and lies 196 miles [315.4 km]<1> to the southwest of the Pearl City that is located in Stephenson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Putnam County community of Pearl City.
    • Tennessee
      • Lincoln County
      • This Pearl City is located in Lincoln County and lies 520 miles [836.9 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Pearl City that is located in Stephenson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lincoln County community of Pearl City.
    • Texas
      • DeWitt County
      • This Pearl City is located in DeWitt County and lies 984 miles [1,583.6 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Pearl City that is located in Stephenson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the DeWitt County community of Pearl City.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Pearl City ...

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.

How Far From Pearl City 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 village such as Pearl City to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Freeport, which is the Seat of Stephenson County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Pearl City to Freeport, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 171 miles [275.2 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 709 miles [1,141 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,243 miles [10,047.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,986 miles [11,242.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,875 miles [7,845.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Pearl City) 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 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 Pearl City 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 Pearl City 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 Pearl City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.2643, Longitude: -89.8275    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.906 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.063 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.557 degrees.