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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Osborne, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Osborne 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 Osborne:
    • 42.791913, -91.445438
    • 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 Osborne
  • 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 Clayton County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clayton County
    • Since Osborne is near Delaware County and also Fayette County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Delaware County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette 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 Osborne

Communities Also Named Osborne ...

We found ten communities that are also named Osborne.

Within Iowa, the name Osborne is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Shasta County
      • This Osborne is located in Shasta County and lies 1,573 miles [2,531.5 km]<1> to the west of the Osborne that is located in Clayton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Shasta County community of Osborne.
    • Kansas
      • Osborne County
      • This Osborne is located in Osborne County and lies 442 miles [711.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Osborne that is located in Clayton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Osborne County community of Osborne.
    • Manitoba
      • This Osborne lies 544 miles [875.5 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Osborne that is located in Clayton County.
    • Maryland
      • Harford County
      • This Osborne is located in Harford County and lies 826 miles [1,329.3 km]<1> to the east of the Osborne that is located in Clayton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harford County community of Osborne.
    • North Carolina
      • Richmond County
      • This Osborne is located in Richmond County and lies 834 miles [1,342.2 km]<1> to the southeast of the Osborne that is located in Clayton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richmond County community of Osborne.
    • Ontario
      • This Osborne lies 464 miles [746.7 km]<1> to the east of the Osborne that is located in Clayton County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Allegheny County
      • This Osborne is located in Allegheny County and lies 601 miles [967.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Osborne that is located in Clayton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegheny County community of Osborne.
    • Texas
      • Wilbarger 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 Texas community of Osborne [Wilbarger County].
    • Washington
      • Grant County
      • This Osborne is located in Grant County and lies 1,377 miles [2,216.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Osborne that is located in Clayton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grant County community of Osborne.
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha County
      • This Osborne is located in Kanawha County and lies 605 miles [973.7 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Osborne that is located in Clayton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kanawha County community of Osborne.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Osborne ...

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.

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

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

  • Elkader, which is the Seat of Clayton County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 138 miles [222.1 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Osborne to Des Moines, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 798 miles [1,284.3 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 46 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,273 miles [10,095.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,021 miles [11,299.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,915 miles [7,909.9 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 from Point A (ie- Osborne) 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 Osborne 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 Osborne 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 Osborne. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.7919, Longitude: -91.4454    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.013 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.401 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.246 degrees.