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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Graf, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Graf and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Graf:
    • 42.494314, -90.872969
    • 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 Graf
  • 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 Dubuque County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dubuque County
    • Since Graf is near Clayton County and also Jo Daviess County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clayton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jo Daviess 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 Graf

Communities Also Named Graf ...

We found two communities that are also named Graf.

Within Iowa, the name Graf is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Nebraska
      • Johnson County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nebraska community of Graf [Johnson County].
    • Wisconsin
      • La Crosse 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 Graf [La Crosse County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Graf ...

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.

  • Balltown
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Balltown is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Balltown
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 69 people
  • Budd
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Budd is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Budd
  • Cathedral Square
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Cathedral Square is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cathedral Square
  • Cottage Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Cottage Hill is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottage Hill
  • Five Points
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Five Points is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Holy Cross
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Holy Cross is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holy Cross
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 370 people
  • Kidder
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Kidder is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kidder
  • Lore
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Lore is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lore
  • Pleasant Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Rockdale
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Rockdale is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockdale
  • Rose
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Rose is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose
  • Sageville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Sageville is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sageville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 100 people
  • Twin Springs
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Twin Springs is located in Dubuque County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Springs

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Graf and extending to:

  • Dubuque, which is the Seat of Dubuque County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<3> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Graf to Dubuque, 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 153 miles [246.2 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 764 miles [1,229.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 44 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,268 miles [10,087.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,014 miles [11,287.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,906 miles [7,895.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Graf, 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 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 Graf 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 '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- Graf) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Graf 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 Graf. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.4943, Longitude: -90.8730       In this case, the coordinates for Graf have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.618 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.908 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.029 degrees.