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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Wexford, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wexford 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 Wexford:
    • 41.560000, -88.169444
    • 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 Wexford
  • 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 Will County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Will County
    • Since Wexford is near Cook County and also Grundy County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cook County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grundy 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 Wexford

Communities Also Named Wexford ...

We found eight communities that are also named Wexford.

Within Illinois, the name Wexford is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, seven are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Anne Arundel County
      • This Wexford is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 637 miles [1,025.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Wexford that is located in Will County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of Wexford.
      • Montgomery County
      • This Wexford is located in Montgomery County and lies 597 miles [960.8 km] to the east southeast of the Wexford that is located in Will County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Wexford.
    • Michigan
      • Wexford 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 Michigan community of Wexford [Wexford County].
    • Missouri
      • Clinton County
      • This Wexford is located in Clinton County and lies 354 miles [569.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Wexford that is located in Will County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clinton County community of Wexford.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Wexford.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Allegheny County
      • This Wexford is located in Allegheny County and lies 426 miles [685.6 km]<1> to the east of the Wexford that is located in Will County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegheny County community of Wexford.
    • South Carolina
      • Chesterfield County
      • This Wexford is located in Chesterfield County and lies 638 miles [1,026.8 km]<1> to the southeast of the Wexford that is located in Will County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chesterfield County community of Wexford.
      • Oconee County
      • This Wexford is located in Oconee County and lies 554 miles [891.6 km] to the south southeast of the Wexford that is located in Will County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Oconee County community of Wexford.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Wexford ...

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.

  • Crystal Lawns
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Crystal Lawns is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lawns
  • Erin
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Erin is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erin
  • Fox Meadow
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Fox Meadow is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Meadow
  • Grand Haven
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Grand Haven is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Haven
  • Grand Prairie
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Grand Prairie is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Prairie
  • Pheasant Landing
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Pheasant Landing is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pheasant Landing
  • Pleasant Knoll
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Pleasant Knoll is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Knoll
  • Prairie Trail
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Prairie Trail is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Trail
  • Riverwalk
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Riverwalk is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverwalk
  • Squires Mill
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Squires Mill is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Squires Mill
  • Sunset Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Sunset Ridge is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Ridge
  • Winding Creek
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Winding Creek is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winding Creek

How Far From Wexford to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Wexford to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Joliet, which is the Seat of Will County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 145 miles [233.4 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Wexford to Springfield, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 614 miles [988.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,217 miles [10,005.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,956 miles [11,194.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,840 miles [7,789.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Wexford) 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 Wexford 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 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 Wexford 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 Wexford. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5600, Longitude: -88.1694       In this case, the coordinates for Wexford have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.793 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.693 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.923 degrees.