RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Missouri >> Mercer County >> Alvord >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Alvord, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Alvord 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 Alvord:
    • 40.455564, -93.595499
    • 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 Alvord
  • 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 Mercer County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mercer County
    • Since Alvord is near Wayne County and also Harrison County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wayne County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harrison 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 Alvord

Communities Also Named Alvord ...

We found three communities that are also named Alvord.

Within Missouri, the name Alvord is unique.

Beyond Missouri, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Lyon County
      • This Alvord is located in Lyon County and lies 243 miles [391.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Alvord that is located in Mercer County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lyon County community of Alvord.
    • Texas
      • Wise County
      • This Alvord is located in Wise County and lies 539 miles [867.4 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Alvord that is located in Mercer County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wise County community of Alvord.
    • West Virginia
      • Roane County
      • This Alvord is located in Roane County and lies 660 miles [1,062.2 km]<1> to the east of the Alvord that is located in Mercer County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roane County community of Alvord.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Alvord ...

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.

  • Big Spring ‑ Historic
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Big Spring is located in Wayne County (IA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Spring
  • Burrows
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Burrows is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burrows
  • Buttsville
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Buttsville is located in Grundy County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buttsville
  • Galesburg
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Galesburg is located in Putnam County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galesburg
  • Half Rock
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Half Rock is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Half Rock
  • Harris
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Lineville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Lineville is located in Wayne County (IA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lineville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 217 people
  • Powersville
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Powersville is located in Putnam County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powersville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 54 people
  • Saline
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Saline is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saline

How Far From Alvord 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 Alvord 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<3> community of Alvord once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Alvord and extending to:

  • Princeton, which is the Seat of Mercer County, lies just to the South.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 150 miles [241.4 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Alvord to Jefferson City, with an average speed<4>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 885 miles [1,424.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 35 days and walking would take 51 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,467 miles [10,407.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,213 miles [11,608.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,105 miles [8,215.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Alvord) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Alvord, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Alvord 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 Alvord. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.4556, Longitude: -93.5955       In this case, the coordinates for Alvord have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.427 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.71 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.896 degrees.