RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Black Hawk County >> Big Rock >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Big Rock, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Big Rock 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 Big Rock:
    • 42.551653, -92.297961
    • 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 Big Rock
  • 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 Black Hawk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Black Hawk County
    • Since Big Rock is near Bremer County and also Buchanan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bremer County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Buchanan 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 Big Rock

Communities Also Named Big Rock ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Big Rock.

There are two communities within Iowa that are also named Big Rock.

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

  • Communities Located In Iowa ...
    • Clinton 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 Iowa community of Big Rock [Clinton County].
    • Scott County
      • This Big Rock is located in Scott County and lies 92 miles [148.1 km]<2> to the southeast of the Big Rock that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Scott County community of Big Rock.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Pulaski 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 Arkansas community of Big Rock [Pulaski County].
      • Sebastian County
      • This Big Rock is located in Sebastian County and lies 520 miles [836.9 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Big Rock that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sebastian County community of Big Rock.
    • Illinois
      • Kane County
      • This Big Rock is located in Kane County and lies 199 miles [320.3 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Big Rock that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kane County community of Big Rock.
    • Kentucky
      • Leslie County
      • This Big Rock is located in Leslie County and lies 613 miles [986.5 km]<2> to the southeast of the Big Rock that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Leslie County community of Big Rock.
    • Michigan
      • Montmorency 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 Michigan community of Big Rock [Montmorency County].
    • North Carolina
      • Granville 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 North Carolina community of Big Rock [Granville County].
    • Ohio
      • Jackson County
      • This Big Rock is located in Jackson County and lies 551 miles [886.7 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Big Rock that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Big Rock.
    • Tennessee
      • Stewart County
      • This Big Rock is located in Stewart County and lies 477 miles [767.7 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Big Rock that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stewart County community of Big Rock.
    • Texas
      • Henderson County
      • This Big Rock is located in Henderson County and lies 731 miles [1,176.4 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Big Rock that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Henderson County community of Big Rock.
    • Virginia
      • Buchanan County
      • This Big Rock is located in Buchanan County and lies 643 miles [1,034.8 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Big Rock that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Buchanan County community of Big Rock.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Big Rock ...

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.

  • Castle Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Castle Hill is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Hill
  • Cedar City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Cedar City is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar City
  • Cedar Falls
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Edwards ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Edwards is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edwards
  • Glasgow ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Glasgow is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glasgow
  • Hilltop
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Hilltop is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Klinger
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Klinger is located in Bremer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Klinger
  • Orange
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Orange is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange
  • Raymond
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Raymond is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 788 people

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

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

  • Waterloo, which is the Seat of Black Hawk County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 94 miles [151.3 km]<2> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Big Rock to Des Moines, with an average speed<5>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 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 836 miles [1,345.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 48 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,314 miles [10,161.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,063 miles [11,366.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,959 miles [7,980.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 Big Rock 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 from Point A (ie- Big Rock) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Big Rock, 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 Big Rock 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 Big Rock. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.5517, Longitude: -92.2980       In this case, the coordinates for Big Rock have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.597 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.036 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.749 degrees.