RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Des Moines County >> Kemper >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Kemper, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Kemper 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 Kemper:
    • 40.743929, -91.123479
    • 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 Kemper
  • 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 Des Moines County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Des Moines County
    • Since Kemper is near Henderson County and also Lee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henderson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lee 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 Kemper

Communities Also Named Kemper ...

We found four communities that are also named Kemper.

Within Iowa, the name Kemper is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Jersey County
      • This Kemper is located in Jersey County and lies 117 miles [188.3 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Kemper that is located in Des Moines County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jersey County community of Kemper.
    • Louisiana
      • Saint Mary Parish
      • This Kemper is located in Saint Mary Parish and lies 755 miles [1,215.1 km]<1> to the south of the Kemper that is located in Des Moines County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Mary Parish community of Kemper.
    • South Carolina
      • Dillon County
      • This Kemper is located in Dillon County and lies 787 miles [1,266.6 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Kemper that is located in Des Moines County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dillon County community of Kemper.
    • West Virginia
      • Lewis 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 West Virginia community of Kemper [Lewis County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Kemper ...

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.

  • Beaverdale
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Beaverdale is located in Des Moines County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaverdale
  • Gulf Port
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Gulf Port is located in Henderson County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf Port
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 46 people
  • Heapsville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Heapsville is located in Henderson County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heapsville
  • Hopper
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Hopper is located in Henderson County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopper
  • Iowa Junction
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Iowa Junction is located in Henderson County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iowa Junction
  • Lone Tree
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Lone Tree is located in Henderson County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Tree
  • Silver Lake ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Silver Lake is located in Henderson County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Lake
  • Skunk River
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Skunk River is located in Des Moines County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skunk River
  • Spring Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Spring Grove is located in Des Moines County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Grove
  • Yellow Banks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Yellow Banks is located in Henderson County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yellow Banks

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

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

  • Burlington, which is the Seat of Des Moines County, lies just to the North.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 142 miles [228.5 km]<1> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Kemper to Des Moines, with an average speed<3>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 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 757 miles [1,218.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,365 miles [10,243.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,107 miles [11,437.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,994 miles [8,037.1 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Kemper) 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 Kemper 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 Kemper 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 Kemper. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.7439, Longitude: -91.1235       In this case, the coordinates for Kemper have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.757 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.829 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.597 degrees.