Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in McCool, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McCool and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for McCool
- 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 McCool:
- 41.580038, -87.143645
- 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 McCool
- 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 Porter County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Porter County
- Since McCool is near Lake County and also LaPorte County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Lake County
- eBird sighting report for LaPorte 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 McCool ...
We found three communities that share the name McCool.
Within Indiana, the name McCool is unique.
Beyond Indiana, we know of another three communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these three communities, .
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Ontario
- This McCool lies 549 miles [883.5 km]<2> to the northeast of the McCool that is located in Porter County.
Curious and Interesting Names Near McCool ...
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.
- Chesterton
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chesterton
- Chesterton is located in Porter County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 14,232 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Chesterton <3>
- Edgewater
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast) - Forest Oaks
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forest Oaks have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Oaks
- Forest Oaks is located in Porter County
- Graham Woods
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Graham Woods have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham Woods
- Graham Woods is located in Porter County
- Hillcrest
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast) - Hobart
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobart
- Hobart is located in Lake County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 27,913 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hobart <3>
- Lake View
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast) - Lincoln Hills
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lincoln Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Hills
- Lincoln Hills is located in Porter County
- Long Lake Island
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Lake Island have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lake Island
- Long Lake Island is located in Porter County
- Meadowbrook
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meadowbrook have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
- Meadowbrook is located in Porter County
- Portage
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portage
- Portage is located in Porter County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 37,137 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Portage <3>
- Shady Side
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shady Side have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Side
- Shady Side is located in Porter County
- Willow Creek
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Creek
- Willow Creek is located in Porter County
- Woodland Village
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woodland Village have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Village
- Woodland Village is located in Porter County
How Far From McCool 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 McCool to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in McCool and extending to:
- Valparaiso, which is the Seat of Porter County, lies just to the South Southeast.
- Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 135 miles [217.3 km]<2> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from McCool to Indianapolis, with an average speed<5>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 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 563 miles [906.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 22 days and walking would take 32 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,178 miles [9,942.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,915 miles [11,128.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,798 miles [7,721.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for McCool. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Porter County: www.porterco.org/
The official website for State of Indiana: https://www.in.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 McCool 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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- McCool) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in McCool. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5800, Longitude: -87.1436 In this case, the coordinates for McCool have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <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 McCool 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 314.114 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.922 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.413 degrees. |