Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Quaker, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Quaker and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Quaker
- 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 Quaker:
- 39.861148, -87.560298
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Quaker
- 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 Edgar County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Edgar County
- Since Quaker is near Vermillion County and also Vermilion County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Vermillion County
- eBird sighting report for Vermilion 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Quaker ...
We found seven communities that share the name Quaker.
Within Illinois, the name Quaker is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these seven communities, six are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Michigan
- Missouri
- Ontario
- Virginia
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Quaker ...
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.
- Bono
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast) - Cherry Point
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cherry Point have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Point
- Cherry Point is located in Edgar County
- Dana
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dana
- Dana is located in Vermillion County (IN)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 564 people
- Eugene
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eugene
- Eugene is located in Vermillion County (IN)
- Georgetown
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Georgetown have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
- Georgetown is located in Vermilion County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,145 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Georgetown <4>
- Highland
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Highland have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
- Highland is located in Vermillion County (IN)
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Highland <4>
- Mabel
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west) - Meeks
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meeks
- Meeks is located in Vermilion County
- Quaker
(Less than 2 miles to the east) - Randall
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south) - Raven
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raven
- Raven is located in Edgar County
- Woodyard
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
How Far From Quaker 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 Quaker to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<5> community of Quaker once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Quaker and extending to:
- Paris, which is the Seat of Edgar County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Quaker to Paris, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over 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 111 miles [178.6 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 565 miles [909.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 22 days and walking would take 33 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,277 miles [10,101.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,010 miles [11,281.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,889 miles [7,868.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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- Quaker) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Quaker. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.8611, Longitude: -87.5603 In this case, the coordinates for Quaker have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Quaker 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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Quaker, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Quaker to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.383 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.985 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.098 degrees. |