Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Harvard, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Harvard and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Harvard
- 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 Harvard:
- 40.690007, -93.269378
- 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 Harvard
- 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 Wayne County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Wayne County
- Since Harvard is near Putnam County and also Appanoose County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Putnam County
- eBird sighting report for Appanoose 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 Harvard ...
We found eleven communities that share the name Harvard.
Within Iowa, the name Harvard is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another eleven communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- California
- Florida
- Gilchrist County
- This Harvard is located in Gilchrist County and lies 955 miles [1,536.9 km]<1> to the southeast of the Harvard that is located in Wayne County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gilchrist County community of Harvard.
- Marion 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 Florida community of Harvard [Marion County].
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Nebraska
- New York
- Texas
Curious and Interesting Names Near Harvard ...
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.
- Bethelhem
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north) - Big Spring ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Big Spring have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Spring
- Big Spring is located in Wayne County
- Confidence
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Confidence
- Confidence is located in Wayne County
- Galesburg
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south) - Hodge
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west) - Jerome
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east) - Lineville
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest) - Powersville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Powersville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powersville
- Powersville is located in Putnam County (MO)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 54 people
- Promise City
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Promise City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Promise City
- Promise City is located in Wayne County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 110 people
How Far From Harvard 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 Harvard to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Harvard and extending to:
- Corydon, which is the Seat of Wayne County, lies just to the North Northwest.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 65 miles [104.6 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from Harvard to Des Moines, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 868 miles [1,396.9 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 50 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,443 miles [10,369 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,190 miles [11,571.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,081 miles [8,177.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Harvard. 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Harvard) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Harvard. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6900, Longitude: -93.2694 In this case, the coordinates for Harvard have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Harvard 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> | 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. |
| <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 Harvard to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.213 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.495 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.681 degrees. |