RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Cook County >> Pierces Park >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Pierces Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Pierces Park 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 Pierces Park:
    • 41.745868, -87.592547
    • 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 Pierces Park
  • 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 Cook County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cook County
    • Since Pierces Park is near Lake County and also DuPage 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 DuPage 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 Pierces Park

Curious and Interesting Names Near Pierces Park ...

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.

  • Back of the Yards
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Back of the Yards is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Back of the Yards
  • Beverly
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Beverly is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beverly
  • Evergreen Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Forestville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Forestville is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forestville
  • Fuller Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Fuller Park is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fuller Park
  • Grand Boulevard
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Grand Boulevard is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Boulevard
  • Grand Crossing
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Grand Crossing is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Crossing
  • Grant Village
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Grant Village is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grant Village
  • Honeymoon Row
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Honeymoon Row is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honeymoon Row
  • Irondale ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Irondale is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irondale
  • Italian Bowery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Italian Bowery is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Italian Bowery
  • New City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • New City is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New City
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • New Patch
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • New Patch is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Patch
    • Poverty Row
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Poverty Row is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poverty Row
    • Roseland
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Roseland is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseland
    • Stony Island
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Stony Island is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Island
    • Woodlawn
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Woodlawn is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn

How Far From Pierces Park 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 Pierces Park to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Pierces Park and extending to:

  • Chicago, which is the Seat of Cook County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Pierces Park to Chicago, with an average speed<3> 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 173 miles [278.4 km] to the southwest (SW). 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 589 miles [947.9 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 34 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,187 miles [9,957 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • 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).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,809 miles [7,739.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Pierces Park) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Pierces Park 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 Pierces Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.7459, Longitude: -87.5925       In this case, the coordinates for Pierces Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.41 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.283 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.585 degrees.