Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Stanford, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Stanford and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Stanford
- 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 Stanford:
- 40.434910, -89.220564
- 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 Stanford
- 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 McLean County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for McLean County
- Since Stanford is near Tazewell County and also Logan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Tazewell 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 Stanford ...
We found eleven communities that share the name Stanford.
Within Illinois, the name Stanford is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another eleven communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- California
- Placer County
- This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Stanford [Placer County].
- Santa Clara County
- This Stanford is located in Santa Clara County and lies 1,771 miles [2,850.1 km]<1> to the west of the Stanford that is located in McLean County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Santa Clara County community of Stanford.
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Stanford ...
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.
- Burns
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east) - Carlock
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carlock have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carlock
- Carlock is located in McLean County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 558 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Carlock <5>
- Farmsville ‑ Historic
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Farmsville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmsville
- Farmsville is located in Woodford County
- Funks Grove
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Funks Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Funks Grove
- Funks Grove is located in McLean County
- Lilly
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lilly
- Lilly is located in Tazewell County
- Lucas
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest) - Mountjoy
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south) - Normal
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Normal
- Normal is located in McLean County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 54,451 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Normal <5>
- Randolph
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east) - Twin Grove
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Twin Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Grove
- Twin Grove is located in McLean County
- Union
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest) - Walnut
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
How Far From Stanford to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a village such as Stanford to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Stanford and extending to:
- Bloomington, which is the Seat of McLean County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Stanford to Bloomington, with an average speed<6> 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 50 miles [80.5 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take most of three days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 655 miles [1,054.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 38 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,311 miles [10,156.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,049 miles [11,344.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,931 miles [7,935.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Stanford. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for McLean County: www.mclean.gov/
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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Stanford) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Stanford. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.4349, Longitude: -89.2206 In this case, the coordinates for Stanford have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Stanford, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 Stanford 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. |
| <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 Stanford 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 315.479 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.321 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.741 degrees. |