RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kansas >> Jefferson County >> Grantville >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Grantville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Grantville 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 Grantville:
    • 39.083333, -95.561367
    • 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 Grantville
  • 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Grantville is near Shawnee County and also Douglas County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shawnee County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Douglas 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 Grantville

Communities Also Named Grantville ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Grantville.

Within Kansas, the name Grantville is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Cherokee County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Alabama community of Grantville [Cherokee County].
    • California
      • San Diego County
      • This Grantville is located in San Diego County and lies 1,276 miles [2,053.5 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Grantville that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Diego County community of Grantville.
    • Connecticut
      • Litchfield County
      • This Grantville is located in Litchfield County and lies 1,189 miles [1,913.5 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Grantville that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Litchfield County community of Grantville.
    • Georgia
      • Coweta County
      • This Grantville is located in Coweta County and lies 720 miles [1,158.7 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Grantville that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Coweta County community of Grantville.
      • Greene County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Grantville [Greene County].
    • Massachusetts
      • Norfolk County
      • This Grantville is located in Norfolk County and lies 1,286 miles [2,069.6 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Grantville that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Norfolk County community of Grantville.
    • New York
      • Saint Lawrence County
      • This Grantville is located in Saint Lawrence County and lies 1,128 miles [1,815.3 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Grantville that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Lawrence County community of Grantville.
    • North Carolina
      • Buncombe County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Grantville [Buncombe County].
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Grantville lies 1,793 miles [2,885.6 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Grantville that is located in Jefferson County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Dauphin County
      • This Grantville is located in Dauphin County and lies 1,006 miles [1,619 km]<2> to the east of the Grantville that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dauphin County community of Grantville.
    • Tennessee
      • Montgomery County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Grantville [Montgomery County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Grantville ...

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
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Big Springs is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Springs
  • Grove
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Grove is located in Shawnee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove
  • Grover
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Grover is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grover
  • Indian Ridge
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Indian Ridge is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Ridge
  • Lake Shore
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Lake Shore is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Shore
  • Lone Star
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Lone Star is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Star
  • Mineral Springs
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Mineral Springs is located in Osage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral Springs
  • Rock Creek
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Rock Creek is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Creek
  • Silver Lake
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Swissvale
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Swissvale is located in Osage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swissvale

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

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

  • Oskaloosa, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<2> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Grantville to Oskaloosa, with an average speed<5> 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.
  • Topeka, which is the State Capital of Kansas, lies just to the west southwest (WSW).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 992 miles [1,596.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 57 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,607 miles [10,632.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,354 miles [11,835.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,245 miles [8,441 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Grantville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Grantville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek 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 Grantville 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.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Grantville 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 Grantville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.0833, Longitude: -95.5614       In this case, the coordinates for Grantville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.704 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.008 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.151 degrees.