Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Defiance, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Defiance and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Defiance
- 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 Defiance:
- 41.825418, -95.340353
- 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 Defiance
- 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 Shelby County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Shelby County
- Since Defiance is near Crawford County and also Harrison County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Crawford County
- eBird sighting report for Harrison 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 Defiance ...
We found thirteen communities that share the name Defiance.
Within Iowa, the name Defiance is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another thirteen communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Kansas
- Barber 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 Kansas community of Defiance [Barber County].
- Woodson 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 Defiance [Woodson County].
- Kentucky
- Floyd 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 Kentucky community of Defiance [Floyd County].
- Perry County
- This Defiance is located in Perry County and lies 725 miles [1,166.8 km]<3> to the east southeast of the Defiance that is located in Shelby County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Perry County community of Defiance.
- Michigan
- Missouri
- Saint Charles County
- This Defiance is located in Saint Charles County and lies 326 miles [524.6 km]<3> to the southeast of the Defiance that is located in Shelby County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Charles County community of Defiance.
- Worth County
- Although located in Worth County, we don't know the location within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Worth County community of Defiance.
- New Mexico
- Bernalillo 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 New Mexico community of Defiance [Bernalillo County].
- McKinley County
- This Defiance is located in McKinley County and lies 850 miles [1,367.9 km]<3> to the west southwest of the Defiance that is located in Shelby County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the McKinley County community of Defiance.
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
Curious and Interesting Names Near Defiance ...
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.
- Audubon
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Audubon
- Audubon is located in Audubon County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,878 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Audubon <4>
- Bell
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest) - Charter Oak
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Charter Oak have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charter Oak
- Charter Oak is located in Crawford County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 478 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Charter Oak <4>
- Elk Horn
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elk Horn have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Horn
- Elk Horn is located in Shelby County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 601 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elk Horn <4>
- Gray
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gray have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray
- Gray is located in Audubon County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 57 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gray <4>
- Irwin
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Irwin have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irwin
- Irwin is located in Shelby County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 308 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Irwin <4>
- Panama
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Panama have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panama
- Panama is located in Shelby County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 206 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Panama <4>
- Poplar
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast) - Red Line
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast) - Vail
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vail have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vail
- Vail is located in Crawford County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 413 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vail <4>
How Far From Defiance to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Defiance to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Defiance and extending to:
- Harlan, which is the Seat of Shelby County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<3> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Defiance to Harlan, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 90 miles [144.8 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 982 miles [1,580.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 56 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,455 miles [10,388.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,207 miles [11,598.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,108 miles [8,220.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Defiance. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Shelby County: www.shco.org/
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Defiance, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Defiance 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> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Defiance) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Defiance. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.8254, Longitude: -95.3404 In this case, the coordinates for Defiance have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <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 Defiance 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 319.693 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.346 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.499 degrees. |