RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Washington County >> Ainsworth >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ainsworth, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ainsworth and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Ainsworth:
    • 41.290090, -91.554483
    • 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 Ainsworth
  • 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 Washington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Since Ainsworth is near Louisa County and also Henry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Louisa County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henry 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 Ainsworth

Communities Also Named Ainsworth ...

We found seven communities that are also named Ainsworth.

Within Iowa, the name Ainsworth is unique.

Beyond Iowa, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Lake County
      • This Ainsworth is located in Lake County and lies 222 miles [357.3 km]<1> to the east of the Ainsworth that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lake County community of Ainsworth.
    • Kansas
      • Greeley 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 Kansas community of Ainsworth [Greeley County].
      • Wichita County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Ainsworth [Wichita County].
    • Mississippi
      • Copiah 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 Mississippi community of Ainsworth [Copiah County].
    • Nebraska
      • Brown County
      • This Ainsworth is located in Brown County and lies 435 miles [700.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Ainsworth that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Brown County community of Ainsworth.
    • Texas
      • Liberty County
      • This Ainsworth is located in Liberty County and lies 782 miles [1,258.5 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Ainsworth that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Liberty County community of Ainsworth.
    • Washington
      • Franklin County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Franklin County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Ainsworth.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ainsworth ...

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.

  • Bard
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Bard is located in Louisa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bard
  • Cairo
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Cairo is located in Louisa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cairo
  • Conesville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Conesville is located in Muscatine County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conesville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 427 people
  • Eureka ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Eureka is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
  • Grace Hill
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Grace Hill is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grace Hill
  • Iowa Junction ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Iowa Junction is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iowa Junction
  • Lone Tree
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Noble
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Noble is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noble
  • Olds
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Olds is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olds
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 222 people
  • River Junction
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • River Junction is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Junction
  • Swedesburg
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Swedesburg is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swedesburg

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

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

  • Washington, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies just to the West.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 108 miles [173.8 km]<1> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Ainsworth to Des Moines, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 783 miles [1,260.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 31 days and walking would take 45 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,353 miles [10,224.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,097 miles [11,421.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,986 miles [8,024.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ainsworth) 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 Ainsworth 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>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 Ainsworth, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Ainsworth 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 Ainsworth. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.2901, Longitude: -91.5545       In this case, the coordinates for Ainsworth have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.062 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.253 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.679 degrees.