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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Towanda, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Towanda and the surrounding area.
- 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 Towanda:
- 40.563302, -88.900789
- 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 Towanda
- 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:
- Open the eBird sighting report for McLean County
- Since Towanda is near Woodford County and also Livingston County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Woodford County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Livingston 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 Towanda
Communities Also Named Towanda ...
We found three communities that are also named Towanda.
Within Illinois, the name Towanda is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Kansas
- Butler County
- This Towanda is located in Butler County and lies 473 miles [761.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Towanda that is located in McLean County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of Towanda.
- North Dakota
- Sargent 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 Towanda [Sargent County].
- Pennsylvania
- Bradford County
- This Towanda is located in Bradford County and lies 652 miles [1,049.3 km]<1> to the east of the Towanda that is located in McLean County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bradford County community of Towanda.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Towanda ...
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.
- Clarksville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Clarksville is located in McLean County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarksville
- Cooksville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Eagle Ridge
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Eagle Ridge is located in McLean County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Ridge
- Hedgewood
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Hedgewood is located in McLean County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hedgewood
- Holder
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Holder is located in McLean County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holder
- Normal
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Pleasant Hill
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Pleasant Hill is located in McLean County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
- Shamrock
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Shamrock is located in McLean County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock
- Timber Ridge
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Timber Ridge is located in McLean County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timber Ridge
- Twin Grove
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Twin Grove is located in McLean County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Grove
How Far From Towanda 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 village such as Towanda to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Towanda and extending to:
- Bloomington, which is the Seat of McLean County, lies just to the Southwest.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 66 miles [106.2 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could walk a straight line from Towanda to Springfield, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 639 miles [1,028.4 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 37 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,293 miles [10,127.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,030 miles [11,313.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,913 miles [7,906.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
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- Towanda) 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 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 Towanda 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 Towanda 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 Towanda. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5633, Longitude: -88.9008 In this case, the coordinates for Towanda have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.27 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.099 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.552 degrees. |
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