Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Marcus, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Marcus and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Marcus
- 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 Marcus:
- 42.824045, -95.806997
- 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 Marcus
- 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 Cherokee County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Cherokee County
- Since Marcus is near Plymouth County and also O'Brien County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Plymouth County
- eBird sighting report for O'Brien 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 Marcus ...
We found eleven communities that share the name Marcus.
Within Iowa, the name Marcus is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another eleven communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- Nevada
- North Carolina
- South Dakota
- Washington
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Marcus ...
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.
- Archer
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Archer have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Archer
- Archer is located in O'Brien County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 123 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Archer <5>
- Cherokee
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cherokee have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee
- Cherokee is located in Cherokee County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 4,841 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cherokee <5>
- Fielding
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fielding
- Fielding is located in Cherokee County
- Mapleside
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast) - Mary Hill
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mary Hill
- Mary Hill is located in Cherokee County
- Neptune
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest) - Orange City
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange City
- Orange City is located in Sioux County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 6,260 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Orange City <5>
- Plymouth ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west) - Union Center
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Union Center have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Center
- Union Center is located in Plymouth County
How Far From Marcus 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 Marcus to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Marcus and extending to:
- Cherokee, which is the Seat of Cherokee County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<3> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Marcus to Cherokee, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 140 miles [225.3 km] to the southeast (SE). 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 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,014 miles [1,631.9 km] to the east (E). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 40 days and walking would take 58 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,418 miles [10,328.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,172 miles [11,542.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,079 miles [8,173.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Marcus. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
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 Marcus, 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 Marcus 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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Marcus) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Marcus. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.8240, Longitude: -95.8070 In this case, the coordinates for Marcus have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Marcus 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 320.058 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.894 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.531 degrees. |