Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Brookings, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Brookings and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Brookings
- 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 Brookings:
- 44.304545, -96.788589
- 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 Brookings
- 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 Brookings County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Brookings County
- Since Brookings is near Moody County and also Lake County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Moody County
- eBird sighting report for Lake 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 Brookings ...
We found four communities that share the name Brookings.
Within South Dakota, the name Brookings is unique.
Beyond South Dakota, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Michigan
- Oregon
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Brookings ...
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.
- Aurora
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Aurora have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurora
- Aurora is located in Brookings County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 866 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Aurora <4>
- Badger
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Badger
- Badger is located in Kingsbury County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 103 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Badger <4>
- Bruce
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruce
- Bruce is located in Brookings County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 205 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bruce <4>
- Lone Tree
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south) - Prairie Queen ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prairie Queen have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Queen
- Prairie Queen is located in Lake County
- Rutland
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rutland
- Rutland is located in Lake County
- Estimated population in 2014: 205 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rutland <4>
- Stone Bridge
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stone Bridge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone Bridge
- Stone Bridge is located in Hamlin County
- Estimated population in 2014: 105 people
- Sunnyview
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyview
- Sunnyview is located in Brookings County
- Estimated population in 2014: 17 people
How Far From Brookings 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 city such as Brookings to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Brookings and extending to:
- Pierre, which is the State Capital of South Dakota, lies 174 miles [280 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Brookings to Pierre, with an average speed<5>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 1,082 miles [1,741.3 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 43 days and walking would take 62 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,370 miles [10,251.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,128 miles [11,471.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,046 miles [8,120.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Brookings: www.cityofbrookings.org/
The official website for Brookings County: www.brookingscountysd.gov/
The official website for State of South Dakota: sd.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Brookings) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Brookings. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.3045, Longitude: -96.7886 |
| <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 Brookings 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> | 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 Brookings 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 320.802 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 318.936 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.737 degrees. |