Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Whitefield, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Whitefield and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Whitefield
- 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 Whitefield:
- 40.995019, -92.043786
- 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 Whitefield
- 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
- Since Whitefield is near Van Buren County and also Wapello County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Van Buren County
- eBird sighting report for Wapello 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 Whitefield ...
We found nine communities that share the name Whitefield.
Within Iowa, the name Whitefield is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another nine communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Lincoln County
- This Whitefield is located in Lincoln County and lies 478 miles [769.3 km]<1> to the south of the Whitefield that is located in Jefferson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lincoln County community of Whitefield.
- Illinois
- Bureau County
- This Whitefield is located in Bureau County and lies 132 miles [212.4 km]<1> to the east of the Whitefield that is located in Jefferson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bureau County community of Whitefield.
- Kansas
- Shawnee 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 Whitefield [Shawnee County].
- Maine
- Lincoln County
- This Whitefield is located in Lincoln County and lies 1,156 miles [1,860.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Whitefield that is located in Jefferson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lincoln County community of Whitefield.
- Montana
- Missoula 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 Montana community of Whitefield [Missoula County].
- New Hampshire
- Coos County
- This Whitefield is located in Coos County and lies 1,061 miles [1,707.5 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Whitefield that is located in Jefferson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Coos County community of Whitefield.
- Oklahoma
- Haskell County
- This Whitefield is located in Haskell County and lies 432 miles [695.2 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Whitefield that is located in Jefferson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Haskell County community of Whitefield.
- South Carolina
- Spartanburg 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 South Carolina community of Whitefield [Spartanburg County].
- Virginia
- Salem City
- This Whitefield is located in Salem City and lies 690 miles [1,110.4 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Whitefield that is located in Jefferson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Salem City community of Whitefield.
- Arkansas
Curious and Interesting Names Near Whitefield ...
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.
- Business Corners ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Business Corners have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Business Corners
- Business Corners is located in Van Buren County
- Cliffland
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cliffland
- Cliffland is located in Wapello County
- Germanville
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Germanville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Germanville
- Germanville is located in Jefferson County
- Glasgow
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east) - Libertyville
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Libertyville
- Libertyville is located in Jefferson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 341 people
- Martinsburg
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Martinsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinsburg
- Martinsburg is located in Keokuk County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
- Parksville ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Parksville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parksville
- Parksville is located in Van Buren County
- Pleasant Plain
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Plain
- Pleasant Plain is located in Jefferson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 98 people
- White Elm
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
How Far From Whitefield 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 Whitefield 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<5> community of Whitefield once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Whitefield and extending to:
- Fairfield, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies just to the East.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 91 miles [146.5 km]<1> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Whitefield to Des Moines, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 806 miles [1,297.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 46 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,385 miles [10,275.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,130 miles [11,474.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,019 miles [8,077.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Whitefield) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Whitefield. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.9950, Longitude: -92.0438 In this case, the coordinates for Whitefield 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 Whitefield 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> | 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. |
| <4> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <5> | 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 Whitefield, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Whitefield 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 317.387 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.586 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.996 degrees. |