Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Keptown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Keptown and the surrounding area.

• Weather ...
  • Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
  • The National Weather Service forecast for Keptown

• 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 Keptown:
  • 39.078932, -88.669775
  • 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 Keptown

• 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 Effingham County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Effingham County
  • Since Keptown is near Fayette County and also Shelby County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby 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 Keptown

Curious and Interesting Names Near Keptown ...

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.

• Evers
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Evers is located in Effingham County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evers
• Funkhouser
  (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Funkhouser is located in Effingham County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Funkhouser
• Green Creek
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Green Creek is located in Effingham County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Creek
• Greenland ‑ Historic
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Greenland is located in Fayette County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenland
• Heartville
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Heartville is located in Effingham County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heartville
• Holland
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Holland is located in Effingham County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holland
• Howards Point ‑ Historic
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Howards Point is located in Fayette County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howards Point
• Magnolia Corner
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Magnolia Corner is located in Fayette County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia Corner
• Mason
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Mason is located in Effingham County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mason
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 333 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mason <1>
• Moccasin
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Moccasin is located in Effingham County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moccasin

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Keptown and extending to:

• Effingham, which is the Seat of Effingham County, lies just to the East Northeast.
• Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 71 miles [114.3 km]<2> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Keptown to Springfield, with an average speed<3>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 4 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
• The White House (Washington, DC) is 624 miles [1,004.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
• The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,357 miles [10,230.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
• The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,090 miles [11,410.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
• The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,969 miles [7,996.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'