Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Belfast, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Belfast and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Belfast
- 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 Belfast:
- 40.989748, -91.685443
- 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 Belfast
- 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 Henry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Henry County
- Since Belfast is near Jefferson County and also Van Buren County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
- eBird sighting report for Van Buren 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 Belfast ...
We found 26 communities that share the name Belfast.
There is one other community in Iowa which is also named Belfast.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another 25 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 25 communities, 24 are located in the United States and two are in Canada.
- Communities Located In Iowa ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- California
- Lassen County
- This Belfast is located in Lassen County and lies 1,499 miles [2,412.4 km]<2> to the west of the Belfast that is located in Henry County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lassen County community of Belfast.
- San Bernardino County
- This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Belfast [San Bernardino County].
- Georgia
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Finney County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Belfast [Finney County].
- Gray 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 Belfast [Gray County].
- Maine
- Maryland
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Clermont County
- This Belfast is located in Clermont County and lies 417 miles [671.1 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Belfast that is located in Henry County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clermont County community of Belfast.
- Highland County
- This Belfast is located in Highland County and lies 450 miles [724.2 km] to the east southeast of the Belfast that is located in Henry County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Highland County community of Belfast.
- Licking County
- This community is historic<3> and although located in Licking County, we don't know where within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Licking County community of Belfast.
- Preble County
- This community is historic and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Belfast [Preble County].
- Ontario
- This Belfast lies 554 miles [891.6 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Belfast that is located in Henry County.
- Pennsylvania
- Prince Edward Island
- This Belfast lies 1,476 miles [2,375.4 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Belfast that is located in Henry County.
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- Washington
Curious and Interesting Names Near Belfast ...
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.
- Big Mound
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Mound
- Big Mound is located in Lee County
- Eureka ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north) - Germanville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Germanville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Germanville
- Germanville is located in Jefferson County
- Glasgow
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Harrisburg
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harrisburg have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrisburg
- Harrisburg is located in Van Buren County
- Mount Pleasant
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
- Mount Pleasant is located in Henry County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 8,508 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mount Pleasant <5>
- Noble
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north) - Olds
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast) - Parksville ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Parksville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parksville
- Parksville is located in Van Buren County
- Pierceville
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pierceville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierceville
- Pierceville is located in Van Buren County
- Pleasant Plain
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Plain
- Pleasant Plain is located in Jefferson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 98 people
- Swedesburg
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swedesburg
- Swedesburg is located in Henry County
How Far From Belfast 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 community such as Belfast to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Belfast once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Belfast and extending to:
- Mount Pleasant, which is the Seat of Henry County, lies just to the East Southeast.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 108 miles [173.8 km]<2> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Belfast to Des Moines, with an average speed<6>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 787 miles [1,266.6 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<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,372 miles [10,254.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,116 miles [11,452.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,005 miles [8,054.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Henry County: www.co.henry.ia.us/
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Belfast 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. |
| <2> | 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- Belfast) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Belfast. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.9897, Longitude: -91.6854 In this case, the coordinates for Belfast have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Belfast, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Belfast to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.143 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.305 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.818 degrees. |