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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Canfield, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Canfield 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 Canfield:
    • 42.511931, -92.141290
    • 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 Canfield
  • 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 Canfield is near Buchanan County and also Bremer County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Buchanan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bremer 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 Canfield

Communities Also Named Canfield ...

We found nine communities that are also named Canfield.

Within Iowa, the name Canfield is unique.

Beyond Iowa, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these nine communities, eight are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Lafayette County
      • This Canfield is located in Lafayette County and lies 649 miles [1,044.5 km]<1> to the south of the Canfield that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lafayette County community of Canfield.
    • Colorado
      • Boulder County
      • This Canfield is located in Boulder County and lies 691 miles [1,112.1 km]<1> to the west of the Canfield that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boulder County community of Canfield.
    • Idaho
      • Idaho County
      • This Canfield is located in Idaho County and lies 1,216 miles [1,957 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Canfield that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Idaho County community of Canfield.
    • Michigan
      • Alpena 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 Michigan community of Canfield [Alpena County].
    • North Dakota
      • Cass 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 North Dakota community of Canfield [Cass County].
    • Ohio
      • Mahoning County
      • This Canfield is located in Mahoning County and lies 594 miles [956 km]<1> to the east of the Canfield that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mahoning County community of Canfield.
    • Ontario
      • This Canfield lies 628 miles [1,010.7 km]<1> to the east of the Canfield that is located in Black Hawk County.
    • West Virginia
      • Braxton County
      • This Canfield is located in Braxton County and lies 655 miles [1,054.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Canfield that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Braxton County community of Canfield.
      • Randolph County
      • This Canfield is located in Randolph County and lies 690 miles [1,110.4 km] to the east southeast of the Canfield that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Randolph County community of Canfield.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Canfield ...

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 Rock
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Big Rock is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Rock
  • Edwards ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Edwards is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edwards
  • Gilbertville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Gilbertville is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilbertville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 725 people
  • Hilltop
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Hilltop is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Klinger
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Klinger is located in Bremer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Klinger
  • Littleton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Littleton is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littleton
  • Otterville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Otterville is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otterville
  • Raymond
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Raymond is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 788 people
  • Shady Grove
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Shady Grove is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
  • Vista
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Vista is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vista
  • Wise
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Wise is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wise

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

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

  • Waterloo, which is the Seat of Black Hawk County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Canfield to Waterloo, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 98 miles [157.7 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 827 miles [1,330.9 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 47 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,311 miles [10,156.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,059 miles [11,360.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,954 miles [7,972.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Canfield) 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 Canfield 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 Canfield 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 Canfield. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.5119, Longitude: -92.1413       In this case, the coordinates for Canfield have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.488 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.906 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.678 degrees.