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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sutphen, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sutphen 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 Sutphen:
    • 39.048331, -97.055293
    • 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 Sutphen
  • 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 Dickinson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dickinson County
    • Since Sutphen is near Geary County and also Clay County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Geary County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clay 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 Sutphen

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sutphen ...

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.

  • Buckeye
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Buckeye is located in Dickinson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckeye
  • Enterprise
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Industry
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Industry is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Industry
  • Junction City
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Kansas Falls
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Kansas Falls is located in Geary County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kansas Falls
  • Ladysmith
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Ladysmith is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ladysmith
  • Moonlight
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Moonlight is located in Dickinson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moonlight
  • Pearl
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Pearl is located in Dickinson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearl
  • Sand Spring
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Sand Spring is located in Dickinson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Spring

How Far From Sutphen 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 Sutphen 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<2> community of Sutphen once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Sutphen and extending to:

  • Abilene, which is the Seat of Dickinson County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<3> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Sutphen to Abilene, 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 73 miles [117.5 km] to the east (E). 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 1,072 miles [1,725.2 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,660 miles [10,718.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,410 miles [11,925.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,305 miles [8,537.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Sutphen, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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- Sutphen) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Sutphen 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 Sutphen. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.0483, Longitude: -97.0553       In this case, the coordinates for Sutphen have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.738 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 318.203 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.906 degrees.