Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Sidney, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sidney and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Sidney
- 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 Sidney:
- 40.024822, -88.071700
- 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 Sidney
- 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 Champaign County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Champaign County
- Since Sidney is near Vermilion County and also Douglas County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Vermilion County
- eBird sighting report for Douglas 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 Sidney ...
We found 38 communities that share the name Sidney.
Within Illinois, the name Sidney is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another 38 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 38 communities, 36 are located in the United States and two are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Marshall County
- This Sidney is located in Marshall County and lies 407 miles [655 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Sidney that is located in Champaign County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marshall County community of Sidney.
- Mobile County
- This Sidney is located in Mobile County and lies 618 miles [994.6 km] to the south of the Sidney that is located in Champaign County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mobile County community of Sidney.
- Arkansas
- British Columbia
- This Sidney lies 1,825 miles [2,937.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Sidney that is located in Champaign County.
- Colorado
- Elbert 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 Colorado community of Sidney [Elbert County].
- Routt County
- This Sidney is located in Routt County and lies 988 miles [1,590 km]<1> to the west of the Sidney that is located in Champaign County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Routt County community of Sidney.
- Florida
- Georgia
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Finney 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 Sidney [Finney County].
- Greeley 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 Sidney [Greeley County].
- Nemaha 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 Sidney [Nemaha County].
- Ness 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 Sidney [Ness County].
- Kentucky
- Maine
- Manitoba
- This Sidney lies 866 miles [1,393.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Sidney that is located in Champaign County.
- Michigan
- Missouri
- Montana
- Chouteau 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 Sidney [Chouteau County].
- Dawson 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 Montana community of Sidney [Dawson County].
- Richland County
- This Sidney is located in Richland County and lies 958 miles [1,541.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Sidney that is located in Champaign County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richland County community of Sidney.
- Nebraska
- New Jersey
- New York
- North Carolina
- Beaufort 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 North Carolina community of Sidney [Beaufort County].
- Columbus County
- This Sidney is located in Columbus County and lies 650 miles [1,046.1 km]<1> to the southeast of the Sidney that is located in Champaign County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Columbus County community of Sidney.
- North Dakota
- Cass 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 North Dakota community of Sidney [Cass County].
- Towner 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 North Dakota community of Sidney [Towner County].
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Texas
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Logan 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 West Virginia community of Sidney [Logan County].
- Wayne County
- This Sidney is located in Wayne County and lies 326 miles [524.6 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Sidney that is located in Champaign County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of Sidney.
- Wisconsin
- Alabama
Curious and Interesting Names Near Sidney ...
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.
- Block
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south) - Deers
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest) - Glover
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast) - Homer
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Homer have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homer
- Homer is located in Champaign County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,143 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Homer <4>
- Longview
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Longview have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview
- Longview is located in Champaign County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 146 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Longview <4>
- Mayview
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayview
- Mayview is located in Champaign County
- Royal
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal
- Royal is located in Champaign County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 273 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Royal <4>
- Sellers
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
How Far From Sidney 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 Sidney to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Sidney and extending to:
- Urbana, which is the Seat of Champaign County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Sidney to Urbana, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 85 miles [136.8 km] to the west (W). 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 593 miles [954.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 34 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,288 miles [10,119.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,023 miles [11,302.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,903 miles [7,890.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Sidney. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Champaign County: www.co.champaign.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- Sidney) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sidney. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.0248, Longitude: -88.0717 In this case, the coordinates for Sidney 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Sidney 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> | 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 Sidney 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 314.718 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.392 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.296 degrees. |