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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 Pittwood, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Pittwood 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 Pittwood:
- 40.860868, -87.729478
- 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 Pittwood
- 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 Iroquois County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Iroquois County
- Since Pittwood is near Kankakee County and also Newton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Kankakee County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Newton 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 Pittwood
Curious and Interesting Names Near Pittwood ...
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.
- Beaverville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Crescent City
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Donovan
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Freedville
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Freedville is located in Iroquois County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freedville
- Leesville
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Leesville is located in Kankakee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leesville
- Leonard
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Leonard is located in Iroquois County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leonard
- Sugar Island
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Sugar Island is located in Kankakee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Island
- Woodland Junction
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Woodland Junction is located in Iroquois County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Junction
How Far From Pittwood 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 community such as Pittwood to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Pittwood and extending to:
- Watseka, which is the Seat of Iroquois County, lies just to the South.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 125 miles [201.2 km]<2> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Pittwood to Springfield, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 582 miles [936.6 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 33 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,235 miles [10,034.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,971 miles [11,218.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,852 miles [7,808.5 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 from Point A (ie- Pittwood) 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 Pittwood 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 Pittwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.8609, Longitude: -87.7295 In this case, the coordinates for Pittwood have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.501 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.261 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.904 degrees. |
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