Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Sheldon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sheldon and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Sheldon
- 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 Sheldon:
- 43.179892, -95.844425
- 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 Sheldon
- 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 O'Brien County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for O'Brien County
- Since Sheldon is near Sioux County and also Osceola County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Sioux County
- eBird sighting report for Osceola 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 Sheldon ...
We found 24 communities that share the name Sheldon.
Within Iowa, the name Sheldon is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another 24 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 24 communities, 23 are located in the United States and four are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arizona
- California
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Harvey County
- This community is historic<3> and although located in Harvey County, we don't know where within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harvey County community of Sheldon.
- Sedgwick 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 Sheldon [Sedgwick County].
- Michigan
- Ottawa 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 Michigan community of Sheldon [Ottawa County].
- Wayne County
- This Sheldon is located in Wayne County and lies 629 miles [1,012.3 km]<1> to the east of the Sheldon that is located in O'Brien County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of Sheldon.
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Montana
- New York
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Ottawa County
- This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Sheldon [Ottawa County].
- Perry County
- This community is historic and although located in Perry County, we don't know where within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Perry County community of Sheldon.
- Pickaway County
- This community is historic and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Sheldon [Pickaway County].
- Vinton County
- This community is historic and although located in Vinton County, we don't know where within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Vinton County community of Sheldon.
- Ontario
- Pennsylvania
- Luzerne 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 Sheldon [Luzerne County].
- Susquehanna County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Sheldon [Susquehanna County].
- South Carolina
- Texas
- Vermont
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Sheldon ...
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.
- Archer
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Archer have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Archer
- Archer is located in O'Brien County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 123 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Archer <5>
- Cloverdale
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
- Cloverdale is located in Osceola County
- Edna
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest) - George
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for George have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for George
- George is located in Lyon County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,029 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for George <5>
- Hull
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hull have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hull
- Hull is located in Sioux County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,296 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hull <5>
- Little Rock
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Rock
- Little Rock is located in Lyon County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 433 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Little Rock <5>
- Mapleside
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast) - Melvin
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast) - Orange City
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange City
- Orange City is located in Sioux County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 6,260 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Orange City <5>
How Far From Sheldon to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Sheldon to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Sheldon and extending to:
- Primghar, which is the Seat of O'Brien County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Sheldon to Primghar, with an average speed<6> 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 157 miles [252.7 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 9 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,020 miles [1,641.5 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<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,400 miles [10,299.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,155 miles [11,514.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,064 miles [8,149.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Sheldon. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
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 from Point A (ie- Sheldon) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sheldon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.1799, Longitude: -95.8444 In this case, the coordinates for Sheldon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Sheldon 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 Sheldon, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Sheldon to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.096 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.983 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.473 degrees. |