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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Monmouth, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Monmouth 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 Monmouth:
    • 42.076849, -90.879818
    • 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 Monmouth
  • 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 Jackson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Since Monmouth is near Jones County and also Clinton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jones County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clinton 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 Monmouth

Communities Also Named Monmouth ...

We found nine communities that are also named Monmouth.

Within Iowa, the name Monmouth is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jefferson County
      • This Monmouth is located in Jefferson County and lies 618 miles [994.6 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Monmouth that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Monmouth.
    • California
      • Fresno County
      • This Monmouth is located in Fresno County and lies 1,579 miles [2,541.2 km]<1> to the west of the Monmouth that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fresno County community of Monmouth.
    • Illinois
      • Warren County
      • This Monmouth is located in Warren County and lies 81 miles [130.4 km]<1> to the south of the Monmouth that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Warren County community of Monmouth.
    • Indiana
      • Adams County
      • This Monmouth is located in Adams County and lies 318 miles [511.8 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Monmouth that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Adams County community of Monmouth.
    • Kansas
      • Cherokee 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 Monmouth [Cherokee County].
      • Crawford County
      • This Monmouth is located in Crawford County and lies 390 miles [627.6 km]<1> to the southwest of the Monmouth that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Crawford County community of Monmouth.
      • Shawnee County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Monmouth [Shawnee County].
    • Maine
      • Kennebec County
      • This Monmouth is located in Kennebec County and lies 1,057 miles [1,701.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Monmouth that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kennebec County community of Monmouth.
    • Oregon
      • Polk County
      • This Monmouth is located in Polk County and lies 1,621 miles [2,608.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Monmouth that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Polk County community of Monmouth.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Monmouth ...

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.

  • Center Junction
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Center Junction is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Junction
    • Estimated population in 2015: 111 people
  • Clay Mills
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Clay Mills is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clay Mills
  • Crab Town
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Crab Town is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crab Town
  • Dales Ford
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Dales Ford is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dales Ford
  • Edinburg
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Edinburg is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edinburg
  • Garry Owen
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Ironhills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Lost Nation
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Scotch Grove
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Springhole
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Springhole is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springhole
  • Temple Hill
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Temple Hill is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temple Hill
  • Wyoming
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)

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

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

  • Maquoketa, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Monmouth to Maquoketa, 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 144 miles [231.7 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 758 miles [1,219.9 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,289 miles [10,121.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,034 miles [11,320.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,925 miles [7,926 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Monmouth) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Monmouth 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 Monmouth 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 Monmouth. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.0768, Longitude: -90.8798    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.618 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.851 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.141 degrees.