RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kansas >> Linn County >> Blue Mound >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Blue Mound:
    • 38.088957, -95.010038
    • 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 Blue Mound
  • 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 Linn County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Linn County
    • Since Blue Mound is near Anderson County and also Bourbon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Anderson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bourbon 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 Blue Mound

Communities Also Named Blue Mound ...

We found five communities that are also named Blue Mound.

There are two communities within Kansas that are also named Blue Mound.

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

  • Communities Located In Kansas ...
    • Douglas County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Blue Mound [Douglas County].
    • Wallace County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Blue Mound [Wallace County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Macon County
      • This Blue Mound is located in Macon County and lies 335 miles [539.1 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Blue Mound that is located in Linn County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Macon County community of Blue Mound.
    • Missouri
      • Livingston County
      • This Blue Mound is located in Livingston County and lies 131 miles [210.8 km]<2> to the northeast of the Blue Mound that is located in Linn County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Livingston County community of Blue Mound.
    • Texas
      • Tarrant County
      • This Blue Mound is located in Tarrant County and lies 384 miles [618 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Blue Mound that is located in Linn County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tarrant County community of Blue Mound.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Blue Mound ...

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.

  • Berlin
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Berlin is located in Bourbon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berlin
  • Bush City
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Bush City is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bush City
  • Centerville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Centerville is located in Linn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
  • Colony
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Colony is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colony
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 424 people
  • Lone Elm
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Lone Elm is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Elm
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 23 people
  • Mildred
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Mildred is located in Allen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mildred
    • Estimated population in 2019: 23 people
  • Mound City
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Redfield
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Redfield is located in Bourbon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redfield
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 142 people
  • Uniontown
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Uniontown is located in Bourbon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Uniontown
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 261 people

How Far From Blue Mound 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 city such as Blue Mound to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Mound City, which is the Seat of Linn County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Blue Mound to Mound City, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Topeka, which is the State Capital of Kansas, lies 75 miles [120.7 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 971 miles [1,562.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 38 days and walking would take 56 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,640 miles [10,686 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,383 miles [11,881.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,271 miles [8,482.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Blue Mound 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.
<2>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- Blue Mound) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Blue Mound 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 Blue Mound. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.0890, Longitude: -95.0100       In this case, the coordinates for Blue Mound have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.259 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.365 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.059 degrees.