Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Rochester, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rochester and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Rochester
- 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 Rochester:
- 39.757362, -89.530749
- 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 Rochester
- 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 Sangamon County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Sangamon County
- Since Rochester is near Christian County and also Logan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Christian County
- eBird sighting report for Logan 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 Rochester ...
We found 32 communities that share the name Rochester.
There is one other community in Illinois which is also named Rochester.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another 31 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 31 communities, 31 are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Located In Illinois ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alberta
- This Rochester lies 1,497 miles [2,409.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Rochester that is located in Sangamon County.
- California
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Anderson 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 Kansas community of Rochester [Anderson County].
- Atchison County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Rochester [Atchison County].
- Cloud County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Rochester [Cloud County].
- Meade County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Rochester [Meade County].
- Neosho County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Rochester [Neosho County].
- Shawnee County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Rochester [Shawnee County].
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Montana
- Deer Lodge 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 Montana community of Rochester [Deer Lodge County].
- Madison County
- This Rochester is located in Madison County and lies 1,229 miles [1,977.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Rochester that is located in Sangamon County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Rochester.
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Champaign County
- This Rochester is located in Champaign County and lies 391 miles [629.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Rochester that is located in Sangamon County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Champaign County community of Rochester.
- Coshocton County
- This community is historic<3> and although located in Coshocton County, we don't know where within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Coshocton County community of Rochester.
- Lorain County
- This Rochester is located in Lorain County and lies 391 miles [629.3 km] to the east northeast of the Rochester that is located in Sangamon County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lorain County community of Rochester.
- Noble County
- This Rochester is located in Noble County and lies 424 miles [682.4 km] to the east of the Rochester that is located in Sangamon County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Noble County community of Rochester.
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
- Vermont
- Washington
- Wisconsin
- Alberta
Curious and Interesting Names Near Rochester ...
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.
- Berry
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast) - Cascade
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south) - Clear Lake
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clear Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Lake
- Clear Lake is located in Sangamon County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 220 people
- Cotton Hill
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cotton Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotton Hill
- Cotton Hill is located in Sangamon County
- Grandview
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest) - Jerome
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west) - Jess
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west) - Mechanicsburg
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsburg
- Mechanicsburg is located in Sangamon County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 648 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mechanicsburg <5>
- Mildred
(5 miles [8 km] to the west) - New City
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south) - Shale Bluff
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shale Bluff have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shale Bluff
- Shale Bluff is located in Sangamon County
How Far From Rochester 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 village such as Rochester to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Rochester and extending to:
- Springfield, which is the Seat of Sangamon County, lies just to the West Northwest.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies just to the west northwest (WNW).
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 669 miles [1,076.7 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Rochester to White House, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 38 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 27 days.
- The shortest distance<7> 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).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,093 miles [11,415.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,974 miles [8,004.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Rochester: www.rochesteril.org/
The official website for Sangamon County: www.co.sangamon.il.us/
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- Rochester) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rochester. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7574, Longitude: -89.5307 In this case, the coordinates for Rochester 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 Rochester 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> | 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 Rochester, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Rochester 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 315.67 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.446 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.062 degrees. |