RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> McDonough County >> Spring Creek Settlement >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Spring Creek Settlement, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Spring Creek Settlement and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
    • Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
    • The National Weather Service forecast for Spring Creek Settlement
  • 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 Spring Creek Settlement:
    • 40.538096, -90.776522
    • 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 Spring Creek Settlement
  • 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 McDonough County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McDonough County
    • Since Spring Creek Settlement is near Hancock County and also Warren County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hancock County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Warren 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 Spring Creek Settlement

Curious and Interesting Names Near Spring Creek Settlement ...

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.

  • Fountain Green
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Fountain Green is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountain Green
  • Good Hope
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Hills Grove ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Hills Grove is located in McDonough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hills Grove
  • La Crosse
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • La Crosse is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Crosse
  • Little Ireland ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Little Ireland is located in McDonough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Ireland
  • Ragtown ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Ragtown is located in McDonough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ragtown
  • Swan Creek
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Swan Creek is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swan Creek
  • Tennessee
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • University Village
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • University Village is located in McDonough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Village
  • Walnut Grove
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Walnut Grove is located in McDonough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove

How Far From Spring Creek Settlement 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 community such as Spring Creek Settlement to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<2> community of Spring Creek Settlement once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Spring Creek Settlement and extending to:

  • Macomb, which is the Seat of McDonough County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 78 miles [125.5 km]<3> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Spring Creek Settlement to Springfield, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 737 miles [1,186.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 42 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,363 miles [10,240.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,104 miles [11,432.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,989 miles [8,029 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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 Spring Creek Settlement, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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- Spring Creek Settlement) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Spring Creek Settlement 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 Spring Creek Settlement. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5381, Longitude: -90.7765       In this case, the coordinates for Spring Creek Settlement have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.518 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.527 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.475 degrees.