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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Woden, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Woden 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 Woden:
    • 43.231400, -93.908776
    • 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 Woden
  • 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 Hancock County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hancock County
    • Since Woden is near Kossuth County and also Winnebago County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kossuth County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Winnebago 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 Woden

Communities Also Named Woden ...

We found two communities that are also named Woden.

There is one other community in Iowa that is also named Woden.

Beyond Iowa, there is another community also named Woden in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Iowa ...
    • Winnebago County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Iowa community of Woden [Winnebago County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Texas
      • Nacogdoches County
      • This Woden is located in Nacogdoches County and lies 810 miles [1,303.6 km]<2> to the south of the Woden that is located in Hancock County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nacogdoches County community of Woden.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Woden ...

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.

  • Crystal Lake
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Crystal Lake is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 228 people
  • Forest City
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • German Valley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Hayfield
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Hayfield is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayfield
  • Hayfield Junction
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Hayfield Junction is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayfield Junction
  • Lakota
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Lakota is located in Kossuth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakota
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 275 people
  • Lone Rock
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
  • Rake
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Rake is located in Winnebago County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 206 people

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

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

  • Garner, which is the Seat of Hancock County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Woden to Garner, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 113 miles [181.9 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 926 miles [1,490.3 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 37 days and walking would take 53 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,334 miles [10,193.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,086 miles [11,403.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,989 miles [8,029 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Woden 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Woden) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Woden 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 Woden. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.2314, Longitude: -93.9088    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.73 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.424 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.428 degrees.