RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of South Dakota >> Union County >> Nora >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Nora, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Nora 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 Nora:
    • 42.939159, -96.706984
    • 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 Nora
  • 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 Union County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Union County
    • Since Nora is near Clay County and also Sioux County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clay County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sioux 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 Nora

Communities Also Named Nora ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Nora.

Within South Dakota, the name Nora is unique.

Beyond South Dakota, we know of twelve communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these twelve communities, eleven are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Latah County
      • This Nora is located in Latah County and lies 1,010 miles [1,625.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Nora that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Latah County community of Nora.
    • Illinois
      • Jo Daviess County
      • This Nora is located in Jo Daviess County and lies 344 miles [553.6 km]<1> to the east of the Nora that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jo Daviess County community of Nora.
    • Indiana
      • Marion County
      • This Nora is located in Marion County and lies 585 miles [941.5 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Nora that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Nora.
    • Kansas
      • Pratt 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 Nora [Pratt County].
    • Kentucky
      • Clinton County
      • This Nora is located in Clinton County and lies 750 miles [1,207 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Nora that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clinton County community of Nora.
    • Michigan
      • Washtenaw 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 Nora [Washtenaw County].
    • Minnesota
      • Pope 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 Minnesota community of Nora [Pope County].
    • Nebraska
      • Nuckolls County
      • This Nora is located in Nuckolls County and lies 202 miles [325.1 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Nora that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nuckolls County community of Nora.
    • Oklahoma
      • Lincoln 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 Oklahoma community of Nora [Lincoln County].
    • Saskatchewan
      • This Nora lies 729 miles [1,173.2 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Nora that is located in Union County.
    • Virginia
      • Dickenson County
      • This Nora is located in Dickenson County and lies 859 miles [1,382.4 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Nora that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dickenson County community of Nora.
    • Wisconsin
      • Dane County
      • This Nora is located in Dane County and lies 381 miles [613.2 km]<1> to the east of the Nora that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dane County community of Nora.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Nora ...

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 Springs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Big Springs is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Springs
  • Clay Point
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Clay Point is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clay Point
  • Emmet
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Emmet is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emmet
    • Estimated population in 2014: 231 people
  • Greenfield
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Greenfield is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield
    • Estimated population in 2014: 40 people
  • Hill Side
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Hill Side is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill Side
  • Hub City
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Hub City is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hub City
  • Junction City
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Junction City is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Junction City
  • Marshalltown ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Marshalltown is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshalltown

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

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

  • Elk Point, which is the Seat of Union County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Nora to Elk Point, with an average speed<3> 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.
  • Pierre, which is the State Capital of South Dakota, lies 207 miles [333.1 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,060 miles [1,705.9 km] to the east (E). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 42 days and walking would take 61 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,440 miles [10,364.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,197 miles [11,582.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,107 miles [8,218.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Nora) 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 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 Nora 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>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.
<4>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 Nora 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 Nora. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.9392, Longitude: -96.7070       In this case, the coordinates for Nora have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.702 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 318.649 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.988 degrees.