RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Jasper County >> Galesburg >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Galesburg, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Galesburg 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 Galesburg:
    • 41.558979, -92.946415
    • 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 Galesburg
  • 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 Jasper County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jasper County
    • Since Galesburg is near Marion County and also Mahaska County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marion County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mahaska 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 Galesburg

Communities Also Named Galesburg ...

We found eight communities that are also named Galesburg.

Within Iowa, the name Galesburg is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Knox County
      • This Galesburg is located in Knox County and lies 139 miles [223.7 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Galesburg that is located in Jasper County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Knox County community of Galesburg.
    • Kansas
      • Neosho County
      • This Galesburg is located in Neosho County and lies 309 miles [497.3 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Galesburg that is located in Jasper County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Neosho County community of Galesburg.
    • Michigan
      • Kalamazoo County
      • This Galesburg is located in Kalamazoo County and lies 389 miles [626 km]<1> to the east of the Galesburg that is located in Jasper County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kalamazoo County community of Galesburg.
    • Missouri
      • Jasper County
      • This Galesburg is located in Jasper County and lies 307 miles [494.1 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Galesburg that is located in Jasper County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jasper County community of Galesburg.
      • Putnam County
      • This Galesburg is located in Putnam County and lies 74 miles [119.1 km] to the south southwest of the Galesburg that is located in Jasper County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Putnam County community of Galesburg.
    • North Dakota
      • Traill County
      • This Galesburg is located in Traill County and lies 451 miles [725.8 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Galesburg that is located in Jasper County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Traill County community of Galesburg.
    • Ontario
      • This Galesburg lies 769 miles [1,237.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Galesburg that is located in Jasper County.
    • Wisconsin
      • Shawano 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 Wisconsin community of Galesburg [Shawano County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Galesburg ...

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.

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

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

  • Newton, which is the Seat of Jasper County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Galesburg to Newton, with an average speed<4> 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 34 miles [54.7 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 857 miles [1,379.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,388 miles [10,280.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,135 miles [11,482.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,029 miles [8,093.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Galesburg) 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 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 Galesburg 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Galesburg 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 Galesburg. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5590, Longitude: -92.9464    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.021 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.389 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.321 degrees.