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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rockingham, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rockingham 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 Rockingham:
    • 41.482532, -90.633472
    • 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 Rockingham
  • 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 Scott County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Scott County
    • Since Rockingham is near Rock Island County and also Muscatine County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rock Island County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Muscatine 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 Rockingham

Communities Also Named Rockingham ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Rockingham.

Within Iowa, the name Rockingham is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Bacon County
      • This Rockingham is located in Bacon County and lies 822 miles [1,322.9 km]<1> to the southeast of the Rockingham that is located in Scott County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bacon County community of Rockingham.
    • 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 Rockingham [Pottawatomie County].
    • Missouri
      • Ray County
      • This Rockingham is located in Ray County and lies 221 miles [355.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Rockingham that is located in Scott County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ray County community of Rockingham.
    • New Hampshire
      • Rockingham County
      • This Rockingham is located in Rockingham County and lies 1,010 miles [1,625.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Rockingham that is located in Scott County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rockingham County community of Rockingham.
    • New Jersey
      • Middlesex County
      • This Rockingham is located in Middlesex County and lies 837 miles [1,347 km]<1> to the east of the Rockingham that is located in Scott County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Middlesex County community of Rockingham.
    • North Carolina
      • Richmond County
      • This Rockingham is located in Richmond County and lies 742 miles [1,194.1 km]<1> to the southeast of the Rockingham that is located in Scott County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richmond County community of Rockingham.
    • Nova Scotia
      • 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 Nova Scotia community of Rockingham.
    • Ohio
      • Tuscarawas County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Tuscarawas County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tuscarawas County community of Rockingham.
    • Ontario
      • This Rockingham lies 711 miles [1,144.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Rockingham that is located in Scott County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Somerset 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 Pennsylvania community of Rockingham [Somerset County].
    • Vermont
      • Windham County
      • This Rockingham is located in Windham County and lies 931 miles [1,498.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Rockingham that is located in Scott County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Windham County community of Rockingham.
    • Virginia
      • Rockingham 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 Virginia community of Rockingham [Rockingham County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rockingham ...

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.

  • Black Hawk
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Black Hawk is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Hawk
  • Buffalo
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Chapel Hill ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
  • Fruitland
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Fruitland is located in Rock Island County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fruitland
  • Ginger Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Ginger Hill is located in Rock Island County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ginger Hill
  • Green Acres
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Green Acres is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Jamestown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jamestown is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown
  • Little Groves
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Little Groves is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Groves
  • Oak Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Oak Grove is located in Rock Island County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 585 people
  • Rock Island
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Walnut Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Walnut Grove is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove

How Far From Rockingham 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 Rockingham 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 Rockingham once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Rockingham and extending to:

  • Davenport, which is the Seat of Scott County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 154 miles [247.8 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Rockingham to Des Moines, with an average speed<5>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 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 738 miles [1,187.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 42 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,310 miles [10,155 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,054 miles [11,352.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,941 miles [7,951.8 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Rockingham) 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 Rockingham 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 Rockingham, 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 Rockingham 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 Rockingham. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.4825, Longitude: -90.6335       In this case, the coordinates for Rockingham have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.442 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.569 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.169 degrees.