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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Balltown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Balltown 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 Balltown:
    • 42.638092, -90.868692
    • 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 Balltown
  • 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 Dubuque County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dubuque County
    • Since Balltown is near Grant County and also Clayton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grant County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clayton 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 Balltown

Communities Also Named Balltown ...

We found eight communities that are also named Balltown.

Within Iowa, the name Balltown is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Lake County
      • This Balltown is located in Lake County and lies 840 miles [1,351.8 km]<1> to the west of the Balltown that is located in Dubuque County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lake County community of Balltown.
    • Kentucky
      • Nelson County
      • This Balltown is located in Nelson County and lies 440 miles [708.1 km]<1> to the southeast of the Balltown that is located in Dubuque County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nelson County community of Balltown.
      • Whitley County
      • This Balltown is located in Whitley County and lies 541 miles [870.7 km] to the southeast of the Balltown that is located in Dubuque County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Whitley County community of Balltown.
    • Louisiana
      • Washington Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Balltown [Washington Parish].
    • New York
      • Chautauqua County
      • This Balltown is located in Chautauqua County and lies 599 miles [964 km]<1> to the east of the Balltown that is located in Dubuque County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chautauqua County community of Balltown.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Forest County
      • This Balltown is located in Forest County and lies 602 miles [968.8 km]<1> to the east of the Balltown that is located in Dubuque County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Forest County community of Balltown.
    • South Carolina
      • Aiken County
      • This Balltown is located in Aiken County and lies 797 miles [1,282.6 km]<1> to the southeast of the Balltown that is located in Dubuque County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Aiken County community of Balltown.
    • Tennessee
      • McMinn County
      • This Balltown is located in McMinn County and lies 608 miles [978.5 km]<1> to the southeast of the Balltown that is located in Dubuque County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McMinn County community of Balltown.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Balltown ...

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.

  • Beetown
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • British Hollow
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • British Hollow is located in Grant County (WI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for British Hollow
  • Budd
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Budd is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Budd
  • Cottage Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cottage Hill is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottage Hill
  • Diamond Grove
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Diamond Grove is located in Grant County (WI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond Grove
  • Five Points
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Five Points is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Holy Cross
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Holy Cross is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holy Cross
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 370 people
  • Lore
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Lore is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lore
  • Rose
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Rose is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose
  • Sageville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Sageville is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sageville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 100 people
  • Turkey River
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Twin Springs
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Twin Springs is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Springs

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

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

  • Dubuque, which is the Seat of Dubuque County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Balltown to Dubuque, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 158 miles [254.3 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 766 miles [1,232.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 44 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,261 miles [10,076.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,007 miles [11,276.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,899 miles [7,884.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Balltown) 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 Balltown 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>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.
<4>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 Balltown 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 Balltown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.6381, Longitude: -90.8687       In this case, the coordinates for Balltown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.616 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.926 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.989 degrees.