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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Pierson, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Pierson 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 Pierson:
    • 42.543050, -95.865606
    • 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 Pierson
  • 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 Woodbury County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Woodbury County
    • Since Pierson is near Plymouth County and also Cherokee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Plymouth County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cherokee 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 Pierson

Communities Also Named Pierson ...

We found six communities that are also named Pierson.

Within Iowa, the name Pierson is unique.

Beyond Iowa, we know of six communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, five are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Volusia County
      • This Pierson is located in Volusia County and lies 1,218 miles [1,960.2 km]<1> to the southeast of the Pierson that is located in Woodbury County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Volusia County community of Pierson.
    • Illinois
      • Piatt County
      • This Pierson is located in Piatt County and lies 425 miles [684 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Pierson that is located in Woodbury County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Piatt County community of Pierson.
    • Manitoba
      • This Pierson lies 526 miles [846.5 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Pierson that is located in Woodbury County.
    • Michigan
      • Montcalm County
      • This Pierson is located in Montcalm County and lies 526 miles [846.5 km]<1> to the east of the Pierson that is located in Woodbury County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montcalm County community of Pierson.
    • Texas
      • Fayette 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 Pierson [Fayette County].
    • Washington
      • Whitman 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 Washington community of Pierson [Whitman County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Pierson ...

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.

  • Climbing Hill
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Climbing Hill is located in Woodbury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Climbing Hill
  • Correctionville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Fielding
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Fielding is located in Cherokee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fielding
  • Lucky Valley ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Lucky Valley is located in Woodbury County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lucky Valley
  • Marcus
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Mary Hill
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Mary Hill is located in Cherokee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mary Hill
  • Neptune
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Neptune is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Neptune
  • Union Center
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Union Center is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Center

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

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

  • Sioux City, which is the Seat of Woodbury County, lies 27 miles [43.5 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Pierson to Sioux City, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 132 miles [212.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). 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 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,014 miles [1,631.9 km] to the east (E). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 40 days and walking would take 58 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,434 miles [10,354.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,189 miles [11,569.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,094 miles [8,198 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Pierson) 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 Pierson 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 Pierson 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 Pierson. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.5431, Longitude: -95.8656       In this case, the coordinates for Pierson have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.09 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.894 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.623 degrees.