Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Elgin, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Elgin and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Elgin
- 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 Elgin:
- 42.956594, -91.634948
- 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 Elgin
- 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 Fayette County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Fayette County
- Since Elgin is near Clayton County and also Winneshiek County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Clayton County
- eBird sighting report for Winneshiek 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 Elgin ...
We found 38 communities that share the name Elgin.
Within Iowa, the name Elgin is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another 38 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 38 communities, 32 are located in the United States and seven are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Lauderdale County
- This Elgin is located in Lauderdale County and lies 604 miles [972 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Elgin that is located in Fayette County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lauderdale County community of Elgin.
- Tuscaloosa 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 Alabama community of Elgin [Tuscaloosa County].
- Arizona
- Pima 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 Arizona community of Elgin [Pima County].
- Santa Cruz County
- This Elgin is located in Santa Cruz County and lies 1,292 miles [2,079.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Elgin that is located in Fayette County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Santa Cruz County community of Elgin.
- Arkansas
- British Columbia
- This Elgin lies 1,541 miles [2,480 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Elgin that is located in Fayette County.
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Kansas
- Chautauqua County
- This Elgin is located in Chautauqua County and lies 478 miles [769.3 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Elgin that is located in Fayette County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chautauqua County community of Elgin.
- Sedgwick 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 Elgin [Sedgwick County].
- Manitoba
- This Elgin lies 607 miles [976.9 km]<1> to the northwest of the Elgin that is located in Fayette County.
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Shelby County
- This Elgin is located in Shelby County and lies 209 miles [336.4 km]<1> to the south of the Elgin that is located in Fayette County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Shelby County community of Elgin.
- Sullivan County
- Although located in Sullivan County, we don't know the location within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sullivan County community of Elgin.
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Brunswick
- This Elgin lies 1,317 miles [2,119.5 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Elgin that is located in Fayette County.
- New York
- North Dakota
- Nova Scotia
- This Elgin lies 1,436 miles [2,311 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Elgin that is located in Fayette County.
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Comanche County
- This Elgin is located in Comanche County and lies 668 miles [1,075 km]<1> to the southwest of the Elgin that is located in Fayette County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Comanche County community of Elgin.
- Garfield 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 Oklahoma community of Elgin [Garfield County].
- Ontario
- This Elgin lies 775 miles [1,247.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Elgin that is located in Fayette County.
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Quebec
- This Elgin lies 872 miles [1,403.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Elgin that is located in Fayette County.
- South Carolina
- Kershaw County
- This Elgin is located in Kershaw County and lies 841 miles [1,353.5 km]<1> to the southeast of the Elgin that is located in Fayette County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kershaw County community of Elgin.
- Lancaster County
- This Elgin is located in Lancaster County and lies 818 miles [1,316.4 km] to the southeast of the Elgin that is located in Fayette County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lancaster County community of Elgin.
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Emery County
- This community is historic<3> and although located in Emery County, we don't know where within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Emery County community of Elgin.
- Grand County
- This Elgin is located in Grand County and lies 1,000 miles [1,609.3 km]<1> to the west of the Elgin that is located in Fayette County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grand County community of Elgin.
- Virginia
- Washington
- Alabama
Curious and Interesting Names Near Elgin ...
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.
- Eldorado
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest) - Farmersburg
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Farmersburg have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmersburg
- Farmersburg is located in Clayton County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 264 people
- Frankville
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Frankville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frankville
- Frankville is located in Winneshiek County
- Hawkeye
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west) - Highland
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast) - Junction ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north) - Motor
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast) - Postville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Postville
- Postville is located in Allamakee County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,033 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Postville <5>
- Twin Springs
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Twin Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Springs
- Twin Springs is located in Winneshiek County
How Far From Elgin 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 Elgin to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Elgin and extending to:
- West Union, which is the Seat of Fayette County, lies just to the West.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 138 miles [222.1 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Elgin to Des Moines, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 810 miles [1,303.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 46 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,271 miles [10,092.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,020 miles [11,297.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,915 miles [7,909.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Elgin. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Elgin) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Elgin. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.9566, Longitude: -91.6349 |
| <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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Elgin 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> | 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 Elgin, 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 Elgin 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 317.145 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.574 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.302 degrees. |