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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Stillwell, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Stillwell 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 Stillwell:
    • 41.523889, -92.668524
    • 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 Stillwell
  • 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 Poweshiek County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Poweshiek County
    • Since Stillwell is near Mahaska County and also Jasper County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mahaska County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jasper 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 Stillwell

Communities Also Named Stillwell ...

We found eight communities that are also named Stillwell.

Within Iowa, the name Stillwell is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Effingham County
      • This Stillwell is located in Effingham County and lies 890 miles [1,432.3 km]<1> to the southeast of the Stillwell that is located in Poweshiek County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Effingham County community of Stillwell.
    • Illinois
      • Hancock County
      • This Stillwell is located in Hancock County and lies 118 miles [189.9 km]<1> to the southeast of the Stillwell that is located in Poweshiek County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hancock County community of Stillwell.
    • Indiana
      • LaPorte County
      • This Stillwell is located in LaPorte County and lies 313 miles [503.7 km]<1> to the east of the Stillwell that is located in Poweshiek County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the LaPorte County community of Stillwell.
    • Missouri
      • Pike 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 Missouri community of Stillwell [Pike County].
    • North Dakota
      • Cavalier 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 Dakota community of Stillwell [Cavalier County].
    • Ohio
      • Butler County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Butler County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of Stillwell.
      • Holmes County
      • This Stillwell is located in Holmes County and lies 555 miles [893.2 km]<1> to the east of the Stillwell that is located in Poweshiek County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Holmes County community of Stillwell.
    • West Virginia
      • Pocahontas County
      • This Stillwell is located in Pocahontas County and lies 703 miles [1,131.4 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Stillwell that is located in Poweshiek County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pocahontas County community of Stillwell.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Stillwell ...

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.

  • Coal Creek
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Coal Creek is located in Keokuk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal Creek
  • Deep River
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Deep River is located in Poweshiek County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep River
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 268 people
  • Evans
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Evans is located in Mahaska County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evans
  • Fishville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Fishville is located in Mahaska County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fishville
  • Galesburg
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Galesburg is located in Jasper County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galesburg
  • Indianapolis
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Indianapolis is located in Mahaska County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indianapolis
  • Jacobs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Jacobs is located in Poweshiek County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacobs
  • Killduff
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Killduff is located in Jasper County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Killduff
  • Lacey
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Lacey is located in Mahaska County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacey
  • Lynnville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Montezuma
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Spring Valley
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Spring Valley is located in Mahaska County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
  • Union Mills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Union Mills is located in Mahaska County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Mills

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

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

  • Montezuma, which is the Seat of Poweshiek County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 49 miles [78.9 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could walk a straight line from Stillwell to Des Moines, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 842 miles [1,355.1 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 48 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,380 miles [10,267.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,127 miles [11,469.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,019 miles [8,077.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Stillwell) 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 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 Stillwell 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 Stillwell, 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 Stillwell 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 Stillwell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5239, Longitude: -92.6685       In this case, the coordinates for Stillwell have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.829 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.164 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.187 degrees.