Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Oswalt, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oswalt and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Oswalt
- 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 Oswalt:
- 41.696132, -93.29766
- 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 Oswalt
- 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 Jasper County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Jasper County
- Since Oswalt is near Polk County and also Story County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Polk County
- eBird sighting report for Story 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 Oswalt ...
We found two communities that share the name Oswalt.
Within Iowa, the name Oswalt is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Oklahoma
Curious and Interesting Names Near Oswalt ...
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.
- Clyde
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north) - Enterprise
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Enterprise have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enterprise
- Enterprise is located in Polk County
- Green Castle
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Castle
- Green Castle is located in Jasper County
- Ira
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ira
- Ira is located in Jasper County
- Ivy
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest) - Lambs Grove
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lambs Grove
- Lambs Grove is located in Jasper County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 165 people
- Mingo
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mingo
- Mingo is located in Jasper County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 309 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mingo <4>
- Pleasant Hill
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
- Pleasant Hill is located in Polk County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 10,025 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pleasant Hill <4>
- Prairie City
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie City
- Prairie City is located in Jasper County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,721 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Prairie City <4>
- Prairiebell
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prairiebell have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairiebell
- Prairiebell is located in Jasper County
- Rising Sun
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rising Sun have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rising Sun
- Rising Sun is located in Polk County
How Far From Oswalt 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 Oswalt to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Oswalt and extending to:
- Newton, which is the Seat of Jasper County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Oswalt to Newton, with an average speed<5> 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 17 miles [27.4 km] to the west southwest (WSW). The buggy would take five to six hours and walking would take most of a day.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 876 miles [1,409.8 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two days, a buggy would take 35 days and walking would take 50 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,393 miles [10,288.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,141 miles [11,492.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,036 miles [8,104.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Oswalt. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Oswalt 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. |
| <2> | 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- Oswalt) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Oswalt. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.6961, Longitude: -93.2977 |
| <3> | 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. |
| <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 Oswalt to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.267 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.69 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.469 degrees. |