RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Will County >> Prairie Ridge >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Prairie Ridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Prairie Ridge 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 Ridge:
    • 41.720556, -88.151389
    • 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 Ridge
  • 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 Will County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Will County
    • Since Prairie Ridge is near DuPage County and also Kendall County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DuPage County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kendall 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 Ridge

Communities Also Named Prairie Ridge ...

We found four communities that are also named Prairie Ridge.

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

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

  • Communities Located In Illinois ...
    • Cook 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 Ridge [Cook County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Prairie Ridge #1
      • This community is historic<1> and we have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for Prairie Ridge.
    • Missouri
      • Caldwell County
      • This Prairie Ridge is located in Caldwell County and lies 347 miles [558.4 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Prairie Ridge that is located in Will County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Caldwell County community of Prairie Ridge.
    • Washington
      • Pierce County
      • This Prairie Ridge is located in Pierce County and lies 1,703 miles [2,740.7 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Prairie Ridge that is located in Will County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pierce County community of Prairie Ridge.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Prairie Ridge ...

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.

  • Cider Creek
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Cider Creek is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cider Creek
  • Crossing
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Crossing is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossing
  • Heritage Knolls
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Heritage Knolls is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Knolls
  • Hickory Oaks
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Hickory Oaks is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Oaks
  • Indian Boundary
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Indian Boundary is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Boundary
  • Old Sawmill
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Old Sawmill is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Sawmill
  • Pepper Tree
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Pepper Tree is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pepper Tree
  • Pheasant Chase
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Pheasant Chase is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pheasant Chase
  • Quail Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Quail Grove is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Grove
  • River Woods
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • River Woods is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Woods
  • Riverbend
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Riverbend is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverbend
  • Rivermist
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Rivermist is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rivermist
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Stillwater
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Stillwater is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stillwater
    • Walnut Ridge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Walnut Ridge is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Ridge
    • Walnut Woods
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Walnut Woods is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Woods
    • Wheatland View
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Wheatland View is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheatland View
    • Willow Grove
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Willow Grove is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Grove
    • Woodlake
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Woodlake is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlake
    • Woodleaf
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Woodleaf is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodleaf

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

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

  • Joliet, which is the Seat of Will County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Prairie Ridge to Joliet, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 155 miles [249.4 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 616 miles [991.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,209 miles [9,992.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,948 miles [11,181.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,832 miles [7,776.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Ridge 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Prairie Ridge) 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 Prairie Ridge 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 Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.7206, Longitude: -88.1514       In this case, the coordinates for Prairie Ridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.781 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.702 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.869 degrees.