RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Henry County >> Mount Union >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mount Union, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mount Union 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 Mount Union:
    • 41.057760, -91.390994
    • 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 Mount Union
  • 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 Henry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henry County
    • Since Mount Union is near Louisa County and also Des Moines County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Louisa County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Des Moines 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 Mount Union

Communities Also Named Mount Union ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Mount Union.

Within Iowa, the name Mount Union is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Conecuh County
      • This Mount Union is located in Conecuh County and lies 715 miles [1,150.7 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Mount Union that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Conecuh County community of Mount Union.
    • Kansas
      • Pottawatomie 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 Mount Union [Pottawatomie County].
    • Kentucky
      • Allen 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 Kentucky community of Mount Union [Allen County].
    • Louisiana
      • Union Parish
      • This Mount Union is located in Union Parish and lies 564 miles [907.7 km]<1> to the south of the Mount Union that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Union Parish community of Mount Union.
    • Ohio
      • Holmes County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Mount Union [Holmes County].
      • Stark County
      • This Mount Union is located in Stark County and lies 535 miles [861 km]<1> to the east of the Mount Union that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stark County community of Mount Union.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Franklin County
      • This Mount Union is located in Franklin County and lies 732 miles [1,178 km]<1> to the east of the Mount Union that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Mount Union.
      • Huntingdon County
      • This Mount Union is located in Huntingdon County and lies 707 miles [1,137.8 km] to the east of the Mount Union that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Huntingdon County community of Mount Union.
    • Tennessee
      • Jackson County
      • This Mount Union is located in Jackson County and lies 457 miles [735.5 km]<1> to the southeast of the Mount Union that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Mount Union.
      • Pickett County
      • This Mount Union is located in Pickett County and lies 460 miles [740.3 km] to the southeast of the Mount Union that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pickett County community of Mount Union.
    • Texas
      • Jasper County
      • This Mount Union is located in Jasper County and lies 730 miles [1,174.8 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Mount Union that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jasper County community of Mount Union.
    • Virginia
      • Botetourt County
      • This Mount Union is located in Botetourt County and lies 658 miles [1,058.9 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Mount Union that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Botetourt County community of Mount Union.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mount Union ...

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.

  • Bard
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Bard is located in Louisa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bard
  • Cairo
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Cairo is located in Louisa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cairo
  • Danville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Danville is located in Des Moines County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 896 people
  • Dodgeville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Dodgeville is located in Des Moines County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dodgeville
  • Marsh
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Marsh is located in Louisa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marsh
  • Mediapolis
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Mount Pleasant
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Noble
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Noble is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noble
  • Olds
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Olds is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olds
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 222 people
  • Pleasant Grove
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Des Moines County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Prairie Grove
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Prairie Grove is located in Des Moines County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Grove
  • Swedesburg
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Swedesburg is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swedesburg

How Far From Mount Union to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Mount Union to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Mount Pleasant, which is the Seat of Henry County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Mount Union to Mount Pleasant, with an average speed<5> 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 121 miles [194.7 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 773 miles [1,244 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 31 days and walking would take 44 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,359 miles [10,233.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,102 miles [11,429.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,990 miles [8,030.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Mount Union) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Mount Union 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>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 Mount Union, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Mount Union 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 Mount Union. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.0578, Longitude: -91.3910       In this case, the coordinates for Mount Union have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.946 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.088 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.654 degrees.