RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Wisconsin >> Kenosha County >> Somers >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Somers, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Somers 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 Somers:
    • 42.640297, -87.910356
    • 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 Somers
  • 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 Kenosha County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kenosha County
    • Since Somers is near Racine County and also Lake County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Racine County
    • Open the 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:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Somers

Communities Also Named Somers ...

We found eight communities that are also named Somers.

Within Wisconsin, the name Somers is unique.

Beyond Wisconsin, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Connecticut
      • Tolland County
      • This Somers is located in Tolland County and lies 789 miles [1,269.8 km]<1> to the east of the Somers that is located in Kenosha County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tolland County community of Somers.
    • Iowa
      • Calhoun County
      • This Somers is located in Calhoun County and lies 332 miles [534.3 km]<1> to the west of the Somers that is located in Kenosha County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Calhoun County community of Somers.
    • Louisiana
      • Saint Landry Parish
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Somers [Saint Landry Parish].
    • Massachusetts
      • Hampden County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Massachusetts community of Somers [Hampden County].
    • Montana
      • Flathead County
      • This Somers is located in Flathead County and lies 1,323 miles [2,129.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Somers that is located in Kenosha County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Flathead County community of Somers.
    • New York
      • Westchester County
      • This Somers is located in Westchester County and lies 734 miles [1,181.3 km]<1> to the east of the Somers that is located in Kenosha County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Westchester County community of Somers.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Westmoreland County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Somers [Westmoreland County].
    • Virginia
      • Lancaster County
      • This Somers is located in Lancaster County and lies 684 miles [1,100.8 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Somers that is located in Kenosha County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lancaster County community of Somers.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Somers ...

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.

  • Carol Beach
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Carol Beach is located in Kenosha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carol Beach
  • Eagle Lake
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Eagle Lake is located in Racine County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Lake
  • Franksville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Franksville is located in Racine County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franksville
  • Hickory Haven
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Hickory Haven is located in Racine County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Haven
  • Kansasville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Kansasville is located in Racine County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kansasville
  • Mount Pleasant
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Racine County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 27,048 people
  • Paddock Lake
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Paddock Lake is located in Kenosha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paddock Lake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,232 people
  • Paris
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Paris is located in Kenosha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paris
  • Pikeville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Pikeville is located in Kenosha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pikeville
  • Pleasant Prairie
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Pleasant Prairie is located in Kenosha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Prairie
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,373 people
  • Timber Ridge
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Timber Ridge is located in Kenosha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timber Ridge
  • Union Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Union Grove is located in Racine County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Grove
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,266 people
  • Wind Point
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Wind Point is located in Racine County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wind Point
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,685 people

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

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

  • Kenosha, which is the Seat of Kenosha County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 81 miles [130.4 km]<1> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Somers to Madison, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 623 miles [1,002.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,155 miles [9,905.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,897 miles [11,099.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,783 miles [7,697.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Somers) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Somers, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Somers 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.
<4>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.
<5>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 Somers 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 Somers. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.6403, Longitude: -87.9104       In this case, the coordinates for Somers have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.615 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.643 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.482 degrees.