Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Bell Town, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bell Town and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Bell Town
- 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 Bell Town:
- 37.853282, -94.711339
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Bell Town
- 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 Bourbon County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Bourbon County
- Since Bell Town is near Vernon County and also Crawford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Vernon County
- eBird sighting report for Crawford 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Bell Town ...
We found two communities that share the name Bell Town.
Within Kansas, the name Bell Town is unique.
Beyond Kansas, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
Curious and Interesting Names Near Bell Town ...
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.
- Amos
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast) - Berlin
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest) - Dry Wood
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Wood
- Dry Wood is located in Crawford County
- Edward
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south) - Eve
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east) - Katy
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east) - Redfield
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west) - Richards
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast) - Ronald
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest) - Temple ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east) - Uniontown
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
How Far From Bell Town 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 Bell Town 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 Bell Town once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Bell Town and extending to:
- Fort Scott, which is the Seat of Bourbon County, lies just to the South Southeast.
- Topeka, which is the State Capital of Kansas, lies 97 miles [156.1 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Bell Town to Topeka, with an average speed<4>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 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 957 miles [1,540.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 38 days and walking would take 55 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,641 miles [10,687.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,384 miles [11,883.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,270 miles [8,481.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Bourbon County: www.bourboncountyks.org/
The official website for State of Kansas: https://portal.kansas.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Bell Town) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bell Town. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.8533, Longitude: -94.7113 |
| <2> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <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 Bell Town, 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 Bell Town to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.039 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.08 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.956 degrees. |