RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Kankakee County >> River >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in River, we use the following websites to find information relevant to River 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 River:
    • 41.159200, -87.593369
    • 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 River
  • 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 Kankakee County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kankakee County
    • Since River is near Lake County and also Newton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lake 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 River

Communities Also Named River ...

We found five communities that are also named River.

Within Illinois, the name River is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Huntington County
      • This River is located in Huntington County and lies 112 miles [180.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the River that is located in Kankakee County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Huntington County community of River.
    • Kentucky
      • Johnson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of River [Johnson County].
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Maryland community of River [Baltimore County].
    • New York
      • Monroe County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New York community of River [Monroe County].
    • Texas
      • Zavala County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of River [Zavala County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near River ...

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.

  • Aroma Park
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Garden of Eden
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Garden of Eden is located in Kankakee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden of Eden
  • Indian Oaks
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Indian Oaks is located in Kankakee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Oaks
  • Lake
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Lake is located in Kankakee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake
  • Lake Village
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Lake Village is located in Newton County (IN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Village
  • Leesville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Leesville is located in Kankakee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leesville
  • Log Cabin Camp
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Log Cabin Camp is located in Kankakee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Log Cabin Camp
  • Polk
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Polk is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polk
  • Shadow Lawn
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Shadow Lawn is located in Kankakee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadow Lawn

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

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

  • Kankakee, which is the Seat of Kankakee County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from River to Kankakee, 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 four to five hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 143 miles [230.1 km] to the southwest (SW). 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 579 miles [931.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 33 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,215 miles [10,002.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,952 miles [11,188.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,834 miles [7,779.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- River) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 River 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>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 River 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 River. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.1592, Longitude: -87.5934       In this case, the coordinates for River have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.412 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.202 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.754 degrees.