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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Valley Creek, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Valley Creek 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 Valley Creek:
    • 42.258910, -89.542614
    • 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 Valley Creek
  • 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 Valley Creek ...

We found five communities that share the name Valley Creek.

Within Illinois, the name Valley Creek is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jefferson County
      • This Valley Creek is located in Jefferson County and lies 627 miles [1,009.1 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Valley Creek that is located in Stephenson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Valley Creek.
    • Minnesota
      • Washington 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 Minnesota community of Valley Creek [Washington County].
    • North Carolina
      • Watauga County
      • This Valley Creek is located in Watauga County and lies 591 miles [951.1 km]<1> to the southeast of the Valley Creek that is located in Stephenson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Watauga County community of Valley Creek.
    • Tennessee
      • Claiborne County
      • This Valley Creek is located in Claiborne County and lies 494 miles [795 km]<1> to the southeast of the Valley Creek that is located in Stephenson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Claiborne County community of Valley Creek.
    • Virginia
      • Scott 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 Virginia community of Valley Creek [Scott County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Valley Creek ...

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.

  • Bolton
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bolton have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bolton
    • Bolton is located in Stephenson County
  • Cedarville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Dakota
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Florence
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Florence have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
    • Florence is located in Stephenson County
  • Freeport
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Freeport have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeport
    • Freeport is located in Stephenson County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 23,447 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Freeport <4>
  • German Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Harper
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harper
    • Harper is located in Ogle County
  • Hunt Corners
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hunt Corners have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunt Corners
    • Hunt Corners is located in Stephenson County
  • Lightsville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lightsville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lightsville
    • Lightsville is located in Ogle County

How Far From Valley Creek 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 community such as Valley Creek 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<5> community of Valley Creek once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Valley Creek and extending to:

  • Freeport, which is the Seat of Stephenson County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 171 miles [275.2 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Valley Creek to Springfield, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 694 miles [1,116.9 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 40 days.
  • The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,233 miles [10,031 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,976 miles [11,226.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,864 miles [7,827.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>

The official website for Stephenson County: www.co.stephenson.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- Valley Creek) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Valley Creek. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.2589, Longitude: -89.5426       In this case, the coordinates for Valley Creek 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 Valley Creek 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>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 Valley Creek, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Valley Creek 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 315.713 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.842 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.415 degrees.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024