Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Raritan, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Raritan and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Raritan
- 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 Raritan:
- 40.695834, -90.825046
- 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 Raritan
- 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 Henderson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Henderson County
- Since Raritan is near Warren County and also McDonough County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Warren County
- eBird sighting report for McDonough 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 Raritan ...
We found one communities that share the name Raritan.
Within Illinois, the name Raritan is unique.
Beyond Illinois, there is another community also named Raritan in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near Raritan ...
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.
- Biggsville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Biggsville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biggsville
- Biggsville is located in Henderson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 273 people
- Disco
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Disco
- Disco is located in Hancock County
- Good Hope
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Good Hope have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Hope
- Good Hope is located in McDonough County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 361 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Good Hope <3>
- Heapsville
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Heapsville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heapsville
- Heapsville is located in Henderson County
- Hopper
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest) - Iowa Junction
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Iowa Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iowa Junction
- Iowa Junction is located in Henderson County
- Media
(5 miles [8 km] to the north) - Roseville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseville
- Roseville is located in Warren County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 885 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roseville <3>
- Silver Lake ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Silver Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Lake
- Silver Lake is located in Henderson County
- Spring Creek Settlement ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Creek Settlement have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Creek Settlement
- Spring Creek Settlement is located in McDonough County
- Swan Creek
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Swan Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swan Creek
- Swan Creek is located in Warren County
- Yellow Banks
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Yellow Banks have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yellow Banks
- Yellow Banks is located in Henderson County
How Far From Raritan 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 village such as Raritan to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Raritan and extending to:
- Oquawka, which is the Seat of Henderson County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<4> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Raritan to Oquawka, with an average speed<5> 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 88 miles [141.6 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 741 miles [1,192.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 43 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,356 miles [10,229 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,098 miles [11,423.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,984 miles [8,021 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Raritan. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov
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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Raritan 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> | 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. |
| <3> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | 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- Raritan) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Raritan. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6958, Longitude: -90.8250 In this case, the coordinates for Raritan have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Raritan to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.555 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.59 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.461 degrees. |