RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Will County >> Somerset Hills >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Somerset Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Somerset Hills and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Somerset Hills:
    • 41.628889, -87.917500
    • 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 Somerset Hills
  • 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 Will County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Will County
    • Since Somerset Hills is near Cook County and also DuPage County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cook County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DuPage 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 Somerset Hills

Communities Also Named Somerset Hills ...

We found two communities that are also named Somerset Hills.

Within Illinois, the name Somerset Hills is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Gwinnett County
      • This Somerset Hills is located in Gwinnett County and lies 567 miles [912.5 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Somerset Hills that is located in Will County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gwinnett County community of Somerset Hills.
    • North Carolina
      • Wake 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 Somerset Hills [Wake County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Somerset Hills ...

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.

  • Alpine
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Alpine is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
  • Chickasaw
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Chickasaw is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chickasaw
  • Cinnamon Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Cinnamon Creek is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cinnamon Creek
  • Dawn Wood
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Dawn Wood is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawn Wood
  • Derby Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Derby Hills is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derby Hills
  • Derby Meadows
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Derby Meadows is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derby Meadows
  • Doctor Parker Place
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Doctor Parker Place is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doctor Parker Place
  • Equestrian Woods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Equestrian Woods is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Equestrian Woods
  • Erin Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Erin Hills is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erin Hills
  • Fox Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Fox Hills is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Hills
  • Homer Glen
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Homer Glen is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homer Glen
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 24,281 people
    • Homer Glen has also been known as:
    • Homer Glen village
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Homer Glen <3>
  • Long Run Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Long Run Creek is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Run Creek
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Meadowview
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Meadowview is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowview
    • Pebble Creek
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Pebble Creek is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pebble Creek
    • Spaniel Woods
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Spaniel Woods is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spaniel Woods
    • Spring Creek
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Spring Creek is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Creek
    • Spring Creek Woods
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Spring Creek Woods is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Creek Woods
    • Twin Creek
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Twin Creek is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Creek
    • Twin Lakes
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Twin Lakes is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Lakes

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

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

  • Joliet, which is the Seat of Will County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Somerset Hills to Joliet, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 156 miles [251.1 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 603 miles [970.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,205 miles [9,986 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,943 miles [11,173.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,827 miles [7,768.3 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- Somerset Hills) 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 Somerset Hills 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 Somerset Hills 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 Somerset Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.6289, Longitude: -87.9175       In this case, the coordinates for Somerset Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.626 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.512 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.779 degrees.