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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Polk, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Polk 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 Polk:
- 37.543380, -94.741908
- 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 Polk
- 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 Crawford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Crawford County
- Since Polk is near Barton County and also Bourbon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Barton 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 Polk
Communities Also Named Polk ...
We found fifteen communities that are also named Polk.
Within Kansas, the name Polk is unique.
Beyond Kansas, we know of fifteen communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Dallas County
- This Polk is located in Dallas County and lies 574 miles [923.8 km]<1> to the southeast of the Polk that is located in Crawford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dallas County community of Polk.
- California
- Sacramento County
- This Polk is located in Sacramento County and lies 1,446 miles [2,327.1 km]<1> to the west of the Polk that is located in Crawford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sacramento County community of Polk.
- Illinois
- Will County
- This Polk is located in Will County and lies 460 miles [740.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Polk that is located in Crawford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Will County community of Polk.
- Iowa
- Polk 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 Iowa community of Polk [Polk County].
- Missouri
- Polk County
- This Polk is located in Polk County and lies 79 miles [127.1 km]<1> to the east of the Polk that is located in Crawford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Polk County community of Polk.
- Nebraska
- Polk County
- This Polk is located in Polk County and lies 293 miles [471.5 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Polk that is located in Crawford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Polk County community of Polk.
- North Carolina
- Harnett 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 North Carolina community of Polk [Harnett County].
- Ohio
- Ashland County
- This Polk is located in Ashland County and lies 709 miles [1,141 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Polk that is located in Crawford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ashland County community of Polk.
- Oklahoma
- Kay County
- This Polk is located in Kay County and lies 162 miles [260.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Polk that is located in Crawford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kay County community of Polk.
- Oregon
- Polk 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 Oregon community of Polk [Polk County].
- Pennsylvania
- Venango County
- This Polk is located in Venango County and lies 831 miles [1,337.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Polk that is located in Crawford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Venango County community of Polk.
- Tennessee
- Obion County
- This Polk is located in Obion County and lies 321 miles [516.6 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Polk that is located in Crawford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Obion County community of Polk.
- Texas
- Bowie 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 Texas community of Polk [Bowie County].
- West Virginia
- Jackson County
- This Polk is located in Jackson County and lies 708 miles [1,139.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Polk that is located in Crawford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Polk.
- Wisconsin
- Green 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 Wisconsin community of Polk [Green County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Polk ...
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.
- Barber
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Barber is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barber
- Breezy Hill ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Breezy Hill is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Breezy Hill
- Coalvale
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Coalvale is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coalvale
- Edison
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Edison is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edison
- Fox Town
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Fox Town is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Town
- Franklin
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Franklin is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
- Fuller
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Fuller is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fuller
- Gross
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Gross is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gross
- Lone Oak
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Lone Oak is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Oak
- Miller Brothers ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Miller Brothers is located in Barton County (MO)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miller Brothers
- Mulberry
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Red Onion
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Red Onion is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Onion
- Ringo
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Ringo is located in Crawford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ringo
How Far From Polk to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Polk to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Polk and extending to:
- Girard, which is the Seat of Crawford County, lies just to the West Southwest.
- Topeka, which is the State Capital of Kansas, lies 115 miles [185.1 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Polk to Topeka, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 963 miles [1,549.8 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 6,659 miles [10,716.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,400 miles [11,909.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,286 miles [8,507 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Polk) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Polk 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'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 Polk 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 Polk. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.5434, Longitude: -94.7419 In this case, the coordinates for Polk have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.038 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.038 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.025 degrees. |
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