RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Prairie Creek, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Prairie Creek 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 Prairie Creek:
    • 42.186136, -88.055354
    • 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 Prairie Creek
  • 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 Lake County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lake County
    • Since Prairie Creek is near Cook County and also McHenry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cook County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McHenry 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 Prairie Creek

Communities Also Named Prairie Creek ...

We found seven communities that are also named Prairie Creek.

There is one other community in Illinois that is also named Prairie Creek.

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

  • Communities Located In Illinois ...
    • Will County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Prairie Creek [Will County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Benton County
      • This Prairie Creek is located in Benton County and lies 515 miles [828.8 km]<2> to the southwest of the Prairie Creek that is located in Lake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Benton County community of Prairie Creek.
      • Sebastian County
      • This Prairie Creek is located in Sebastian County and lies 597 miles [960.8 km] to the southwest of the Prairie Creek that is located in Lake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sebastian County community of Prairie Creek.
    • Indiana
      • Vigo County
      • This Prairie Creek is located in Vigo County and lies 203 miles [326.7 km]<2> to the south of the Prairie Creek that is located in Lake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Vigo County community of Prairie Creek.
    • Michigan
      • Ionia County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Prairie Creek [Ionia County].
    • Oregon
      • Wallowa County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Oregon community of Prairie Creek [Wallowa County].
    • Tennessee
      • Hamilton County
      • This Prairie Creek is located in Hamilton County and lies 507 miles [815.9 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Prairie Creek that is located in Lake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Prairie Creek.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Prairie Creek ...

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.

  • Beaver Creek
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Beaver Creek is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Creek
  • Bishops Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Bishops Ridge is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bishops Ridge
  • Cedar Creek
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Cedar Creek is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Creek
  • Forest Lake
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Forest Lake is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Lake
  • Herons Crossing
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Herons Crossing is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herons Crossing
  • Hickory Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Hickory Hills is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Hills
  • Lake Zurich
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Long Grove Valley
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Long Grove Valley is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Grove Valley
  • Meadowridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Meadowridge is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowridge
  • Ponds
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Ponds is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ponds
  • Quail Run
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Quail Run is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Run
  • Quentin Corners
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Quentin Corners is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quentin Corners
  • Ravens Wing
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Ravens Wing is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravens Wing
  • Tall Oaks
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Tall Oaks is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tall Oaks

How Far From Prairie Creek 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 Prairie Creek to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Waukegan, which is the Seat of Lake County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<2> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Prairie Creek to Waukegan, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 185 miles [297.7 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 620 miles [997.8 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,183 miles [9,950.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,923 miles [11,141.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,808 miles [7,737.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Prairie Creek 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.
<2>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 from Point A (ie- Prairie Creek) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Prairie Creek 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 Prairie Creek. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1861, Longitude: -88.0554       In this case, the coordinates for Prairie Creek have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.715 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.694 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.688 degrees.