Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Shirland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shirland and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Shirland
- 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 Shirland:
- 42.444459, -89.197612
- 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 Shirland
- 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 Winnebago County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Winnebago County
- Since Shirland is near Rock County and also Stephenson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Rock County
- eBird sighting report for Stephenson 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 Shirland ...
We found one communities that share the name Shirland.
Within Illinois, the name Shirland is unique.
Beyond Illinois, there is another community also named Shirland in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near Shirland ...
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.
- Garden Village
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garden Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Village
- Garden Village is located in Rock County (WI)
- Harlem
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast) - Holiday Hills
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holiday Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hills
- Holiday Hills is located in Rock County (WI)
- Jonesville
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jonesville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonesville
- Jonesville is located in Winnebago County
- Loves Park
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Loves Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loves Park
- Loves Park is located in Winnebago County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 23,382 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Loves Park <3>
- Morehaven
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east) - Ruby
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast) - Stagecoach Hills
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stagecoach Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stagecoach Hills
- Stagecoach Hills is located in Winnebago County
- Victory Heights
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Victory Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Victory Heights
- Victory Heights is located in Rock County (WI)
How Far From Shirland to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Shirland to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Shirland and extending to:
- Rockford, which is the Seat of Winnebago County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<4> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Shirland to Rockford, with an average speed<5> 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 185 miles [297.7 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 681 miles [1,096 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,211 miles [9,995.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,954 miles [11,191.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,842 miles [7,792.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Shirland. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Winnebago County: www.co.winnebago.il.us/
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 Shirland 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Shirland) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Shirland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.4445, Longitude: -89.1976 In this case, the coordinates for Shirland 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 Shirland 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 315.481 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.603 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.189 degrees. |