RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Black Hawk County >> Louise >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Louise, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Louise 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 Louise:
    • 42.359989, -92.298796
    • 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 Louise
  • 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 Black Hawk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Black Hawk County
    • Since Louise is near Tama County and also Benton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tama County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Benton 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 Louise

Communities Also Named Louise ...

We found ten communities that are also named Louise.

Within Iowa, the name Louise is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Crittenden County
      • This Louise is located in Crittenden County and lies 514 miles [827.2 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Louise that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Crittenden County community of Louise.
    • Florida
      • Alachua County
      • This Louise is located in Alachua County and lies 1,029 miles [1,656 km]<1> to the southeast of the Louise that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Alachua County community of Louise.
    • Georgia
      • Troup County
      • This Louise is located in Troup County and lies 755 miles [1,215.1 km]<1> to the southeast of the Louise that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Troup County community of Louise.
    • Kansas
      • 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 Louise [Sedgwick County].
    • Mississippi
      • Humphreys County
      • This Louise is located in Humphreys County and lies 654 miles [1,052.5 km]<1> to the south of the Louise that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Humphreys County community of Louise.
    • North Carolina
      • Catawba 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 North Carolina community of Louise [Catawba County].
    • Ontario
      • This Louise lies 582 miles [936.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Louise that is located in Black Hawk County.
    • Tennessee
      • Montgomery County
      • This Louise is located in Montgomery County and lies 489 miles [787 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Louise that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Louise.
    • Texas
      • Wharton County
      • This Louise is located in Wharton County and lies 943 miles [1,517.6 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Louise that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wharton County community of Louise.
    • West Virginia
      • Brooke County
      • This Louise is located in Brooke County and lies 624 miles [1,004.2 km]<1> to the east of the Louise that is located in Black Hawk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Brooke County community of Louise.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Louise ...

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.

  • Big Rock
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Big Rock is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Rock
  • Blessing
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Blessing is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blessing
  • Castle Hill
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Castle Hill is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Hill
  • Gilbertville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Gilbertville is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilbertville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 725 people
  • Hicks
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Hicks is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hicks
  • Hilltop
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Hilltop is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Orange
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Orange is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange
  • Raymond
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Raymond is located in Black Hawk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 788 people
  • Shady Grove
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Shady Grove is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove

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

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

  • Waterloo, which is the Seat of Black Hawk County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Louise to Waterloo, with an average speed<3> 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 85 miles [136.8 km] to the southwest (SW). 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 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 833 miles [1,340.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 48 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,324 miles [10,177.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,072 miles [11,381.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,967 miles [7,993.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Louise) 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 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 Louise 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 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.
<4>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 Louise 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 Louise. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.3600, Longitude: -92.2988       In this case, the coordinates for Louise have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.594 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.007 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.797 degrees.