Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Bellair, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bellair and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Bellair
- 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 Bellair:
- 40.691679, -92.979369
- 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 Bellair
- 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 Appanoose County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Appanoose County
- Since Bellair is near Wayne County and also Putnam County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Wayne County
- eBird sighting report for Putnam 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 Bellair ...
We found seven communities that share the name Bellair.
Within Iowa, the name Bellair is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Clay County
- This Bellair is located in Clay County and lies 961 miles [1,546.6 km]<1> to the southeast of the Bellair that is located in Appanoose County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Bellair.
- Leon 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 Florida community of Bellair [Leon County].
- Illinois
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Bellair ...
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.
- Brazil
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brazil
- Brazil is located in Appanoose County
- Centerville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Centerville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
- Centerville is located in Appanoose County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,414 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Centerville <4>
- Diamond
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north) - Jerome
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest) - Martinstown
(Less than 2 miles to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Martinstown have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinstown
- Martinstown is located in Appanoose County
- Mystic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north) - Sunshine
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunshine
- Sunshine is located in Appanoose County
- Thirty
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
How Far From Bellair 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 community such as Bellair 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<5> community of Bellair once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Bellair and extending to:
- Centerville, which is the Seat of Appanoose County, lies just to the East Northeast.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 70 miles [112.7 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Bellair to Des Moines, with an average speed<6>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 three full days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 853 miles [1,372.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,433 miles [10,352.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,179 miles [11,553.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,070 miles [8,159.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Bellair) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bellair. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6917, Longitude: -92.9794 In this case, the coordinates for Bellair have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 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 Bellair 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> | 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. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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 Bellair, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Bellair 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 318.014 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.267 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.535 degrees. |