Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Spence, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Spence and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Spence
- 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 Spence:
- 39.932504, -96.936416
- 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 Spence
- 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 Washington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Washington County
- Since Spence is near Gage County and also Marshall County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Gage County
- eBird sighting report for Marshall 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 Spence ...
We found eight communities that share the name Spence.
Within Kansas, the name Spence is unique.
Beyond Kansas, we know of another eight communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, seven are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Colorado
- Georgia
- Kentucky
- Maryland
- Ontario
- This Spence lies 957 miles [1,540.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Spence that is located in Washington County.
- Texas
- Wyoming
Curious and Interesting Names Near Spence ...
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.
- Badger
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast) - Bestwall
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast) - Diller
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diller
- Diller is located in Jefferson County (NE)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 256 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Diller <5>
- Greenleaf
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greenleaf have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenleaf
- Greenleaf is located in Washington County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 303 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Greenleaf <5>
- Hermansberg
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hermansberg have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hermansberg
- Hermansberg is located in Marshall County
- Home
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Home. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<6>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Home
- Home is located in Marshall County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Home <5>
- Lone Elm
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east) - Marysville
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marysville
- Marysville is located in Marshall County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,251 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Marysville <5>
- Reedsville
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reedsville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reedsville
- Reedsville is located in Marshall County
- Reedsville has also been known as:
- Hazelville
- Strawberry
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Strawberry have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strawberry
- Strawberry is located in Washington County
How Far From Spence 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 Spence to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Spence and extending to:
- Washington, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Spence to Washington, with an average speed<7> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Topeka, which is the State Capital of Kansas, lies 90 miles [144.8 km] to the southeast (SE). 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 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,061 miles [1,707.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 42 days and walking would take 61 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,609 miles [10,636.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,360 miles [11,844.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,258 miles [8,461.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Spence. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Kansas: https://portal.kansas.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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- Spence) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Spence. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.9325, Longitude: -96.9364 In this case, the coordinates for Spence have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 Spence, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Spence 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> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <7> | 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. |
| <8> | 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 Spence to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.715 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 318.286 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.692 degrees. |