RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Piatt County >> Voorhies >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Voorhies, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Voorhies 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 Voorhies:
    • 39.864384, -88.575096
    • 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 Voorhies
  • 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 Piatt County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Piatt County
    • Since Voorhies is near Moultrie County and also Champaign County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Moultrie County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Champaign 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 Voorhies

Communities Also Named Voorhies ...

We found four communities that are also named Voorhies.

Within Illinois, the name Voorhies is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Black Hawk County
      • This Voorhies is located in Black Hawk County and lies 265 miles [426.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the Voorhies that is located in Piatt County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Black Hawk County community of Voorhies.
    • Louisiana
      • Avoyelles Parish
      • This Voorhies is located in Avoyelles Parish and lies 635 miles [1,021.9 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Voorhies that is located in Piatt County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Avoyelles Parish community of Voorhies.
    • Oregon
      • Jackson County
      • This Voorhies is located in Jackson County and lies 1,779 miles [2,863 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Voorhies that is located in Piatt County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Voorhies.
    • Tennessee
      • Lewis County
      • This Voorhies is located in Lewis County and lies 309 miles [497.3 km]<1> to the south of the Voorhies that is located in Piatt County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lewis County community of Voorhies.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Voorhies ...

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.

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

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

  • Monticello, which is the Seat of Piatt County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Voorhies to Monticello, with an average speed<3> 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 57 miles [91.7 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 619 miles [996.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,315 miles [10,163 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,050 miles [11,345.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,930 miles [7,934.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Voorhies) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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 Voorhies 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 Voorhies. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.8644, Longitude: -88.5751       In this case, the coordinates for Voorhies have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.044 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.744 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.578 degrees.