RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kentucky >> Franklin County >> Kennebec >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Kennebec, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Kennebec 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 Kennebec:
    • 38.207016, -84.913007
    • 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 Kennebec
  • 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 Franklin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin County
    • Since Kennebec is near Shelby County and also Woodford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Woodford 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 Kennebec

Communities Also Named Kennebec ...

We found six communities that are also named Kennebec.

Within Kentucky, the name Kennebec is unique.

Beyond Kentucky, we know of six communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Monona County
      • This Kennebec is located in Monona County and lies 643 miles [1,034.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Kennebec that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monona County community of Kennebec.
    • Kansas
      • Russell 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 Kansas community of Kennebec [Russell County].
    • Maine
      • Kennebec County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Kennebec County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kennebec County community of Kennebec.
      • Washington County
      • This Kennebec is located in Washington County and lies 1,004 miles [1,615.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Kennebec that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Kennebec.
    • North Carolina
      • Wake County
      • This Kennebec is located in Wake County and lies 387 miles [622.8 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Kennebec that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wake County community of Kennebec.
    • South Dakota
      • Lyman County
      • This Kennebec is located in Lyman County and lies 870 miles [1,400.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Kennebec that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lyman County community of Kennebec.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Kennebec ...

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 Eddy
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Big Eddy is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Eddy
  • Duckers
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Duckers is located in Woodford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duckers
  • Evergreen
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Evergreen is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
  • Farmdale
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Farmdale is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmdale
  • Forks of Elkhorn
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Forks of Elkhorn is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forks of Elkhorn
  • Harvieland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Harvieland is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harvieland
  • Indian Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Indian Hills is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
  • Jett
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jett is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jett
  • Lanes Mill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Lanes Mill is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanes Mill
  • Slickway
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Slickway is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slickway

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

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

  • Frankfort, which is the Seat of Franklin County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies just to the east southeast (ESE).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 427 miles [687.2 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Kennebec to White House, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 25 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 17 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,253 miles [10,063.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,974 miles [11,223.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,850 miles [7,805.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Kennebec) 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 Kennebec 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>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 Kennebec, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Kennebec 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 Kennebec. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.2070, Longitude: -84.9130       In this case, the coordinates for Kennebec have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.681 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.802 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.341 degrees.