Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Waltham, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Waltham and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Waltham
- 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 Waltham:
- 41.433398, -89.010616
- 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 Waltham
- 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 La Salle County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for La Salle County
- Since Waltham is near Bureau County and also Lee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Bureau County
- eBird sighting report for Lee 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 Waltham ...
We found six communities that share the name Waltham.
Within Illinois, the name Waltham is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, five are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Iowa
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Montana
- Quebec
- This Waltham lies 681 miles [1,096 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Waltham that is located in La Salle County.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Waltham ...
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.
- Cherry
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cherry have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry
- Cherry is located in Bureau County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 448 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cherry <4>
- Deer Park
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south) - Freedom Centre ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Freedom Centre have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freedom Centre
- Freedom Centre is located in La Salle County
- Jonesville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jonesville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonesville
- Jonesville is located in La Salle County
- Little Rock ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Little Rock have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Rock
- Little Rock is located in La Salle County
- Peru
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peru
- Peru is located in La Salle County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 9,612 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Peru <4>
- Peterstown
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Peterstown have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peterstown
- Peterstown is located in La Salle County
- Tomahawk Bluff
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tomahawk Bluff have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomahawk Bluff
- Tomahawk Bluff is located in La Salle County
- Triumph
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Triumph have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Triumph
- Triumph is located in La Salle County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Triumph <4>
How Far From Waltham 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 community such as Waltham to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Waltham and extending to:
- Ottawa, which is the Seat of La Salle County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Waltham to Ottawa, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 118 miles [189.9 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 655 miles [1,054.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 38 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,254 miles [10,064.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,994 miles [11,255.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,879 miles [7,852 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Waltham. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for La Salle County: www.lasallecounty.org/
The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Waltham 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. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Waltham) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Waltham. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.4334, Longitude: -89.0106 |
| <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> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Waltham to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.352 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.315 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.374 degrees. |