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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ozark, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ozark 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 Ozark:
    • 42.157513, -90.874306
    • 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 Ozark
  • 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 Ozark is near Jones County and also Dubuque 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 Dubuque 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 Ozark

Communities Also Named Ozark ...

We found thirteen communities that are also named Ozark.

Within Iowa, the name Ozark is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Dale County
      • This Ozark is located in Dale County and lies 793 miles [1,276.2 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Ozark that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dale County community of Ozark.
    • Arkansas
      • Franklin County
      • This Ozark is located in Franklin County and lies 486 miles [782.1 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Ozark that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Ozark.
    • Illinois
      • Johnson County
      • This Ozark is located in Johnson County and lies 337 miles [542.3 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Ozark that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Johnson County community of Ozark.
    • Kansas
      • Anderson 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 Ozark [Anderson County].
    • Kentucky
      • Adair County
      • This Ozark is located in Adair County and lies 461 miles [741.9 km]<1> to the southeast of the Ozark that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Adair County community of Ozark.
    • Michigan
      • Mackinac County
      • This Ozark is located in Mackinac County and lies 401 miles [645.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Ozark that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mackinac County community of Ozark.
    • Mississippi
      • Itawamba County
      • This Ozark is located in Itawamba County and lies 550 miles [885.1 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Ozark that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Itawamba County community of Ozark.
    • Missouri
      • Christian County
      • This Ozark is located in Christian County and lies 376 miles [605.1 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Ozark that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Christian County community of Ozark.
    • North Carolina
      • Gaston County
      • This Ozark is located in Gaston County and lies 706 miles [1,136.2 km]<1> to the southeast of the Ozark that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gaston County community of Ozark.
      • Wilkes 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 North Carolina community of Ozark [Wilkes County].
    • Ohio
      • Monroe County
      • This Ozark is located in Monroe County and lies 534 miles [859.4 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Ozark that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monroe County community of Ozark.
    • Oklahoma
      • Cherokee County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Cherokee County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cherokee County community of Ozark.
      • Jackson County
      • This Ozark is located in Jackson County and lies 687 miles [1,105.6 km]<1> to the southwest of the Ozark that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Ozark.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ozark ...

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.

  • Cascade
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • 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
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Clay Mills is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clay Mills
  • Crab Town
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Crab Town is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crab Town
  • Dales Ford
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Dales Ford is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dales Ford
  • Garry Owen
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Garry Owen is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garry Owen
  • Ironhills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Ironhills is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ironhills
  • Otter Creek
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Otter Creek is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otter Creek
  • Scotch Grove
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Springhole
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Springhole is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springhole
  • Temple Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Temple Hill is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temple Hill
  • Wyoming
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Ozark once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Ozark and extending to:

  • Maquoketa, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Ozark to Maquoketa, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 146 miles [235 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 759 miles [1,221.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 44 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,285 miles [10,114.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,030 miles [11,313.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,921 miles [7,919.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Ozark) 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 Ozark 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 Ozark, 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 Ozark 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 Ozark. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1575, Longitude: -90.8743       In this case, the coordinates for Ozark have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.615 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.859 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.117 degrees.