Live cameras in Cary, United States

Cary is a village on the Fox River in northwest suburban Chicago, mostly in Algonquin Township of McHenry County, with a small part extending into Cuba Township of Lake County. It began in 1841, when William Dennison Cary bought land here, and grew after the railroad arrived in 1856 and linked it to Chicago and Wisconsin. Pickle farming was an early business. Cary became a village in 1893, and the latest federal count, in 2020, found close to 17,800 people. Today it is a quiet commuter town with wooded ravines, parks along the river and a compact downtown around the train station.

Metra's Union Pacific Northwest Line stops in Cary on its way to Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago, so many residents ride the train rather than drive. The Fox River itself is popular with paddlers and anglers, and the chain of lakes is just a short drive north.

Views along the Northwest Highway

The cameras listed here belong to the Illinois Department of Transportation and come through its Gateway traveler information system, the same source behind the Travel Midwest site. IDOT posts them as snapshots, with each frame updated after a few minutes. Because the map assigns each camera to its closest place, Cary collects views from this corner of McHenry and Lake counties. U.S. Route 14, the Northwest Highway, runs along the village on its diagonal path toward Crystal Lake and Chicago, and Illinois Route 31 forms part of the western boundary near the river.

Like Chicago, Cary sets its clocks to Central Time and springs forward an hour each March. Winter here brings snow, sleet and icy mornings, so cameras are handy before a commute. In summer the sun sets after half past eight, and the long evenings bring traffic toward the lakes and beaches to the north. Autumn color along the Fox River usually peaks in October.

Neighboring Fox River Grove sits just downstream, and Crystal Lake is a few miles west. Farther west, the town square of Woodstock appears in the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day, and fans still visit each February for its festival.

Sources: Cary, Illinois - Wikipedia · Getting Around Illinois (IDOT cameras).