RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Louisiana >> Saint Mary Parish >> Kemper >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Kemper, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Kemper 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 Kemper:
    • 29.809651, -91.667615
    • 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 Kemper
  • 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 parish-by-parish basis. We have selected Saint Mary Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Mary Parish
    • Since Kemper is near Iberia Parish and also Vermilion Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Iberia Parish
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Vermilion Parish
  • 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 Kemper

Communities Also Named Kemper ...

We found four communities that are also named Kemper.

Within Louisiana, the name Kemper is unique.

Beyond Louisiana, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Jersey County
      • This Kemper is located in Jersey County and lies 655 miles [1,054.1 km]<1> to the north of the Kemper that is located in Saint Mary Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jersey County community of Kemper.
    • Iowa
      • Des Moines County
      • This Kemper is located in Des Moines County and lies 755 miles [1,215.1 km]<1> to the north of the Kemper that is located in Saint Mary Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Des Moines County community of Kemper.
    • South Carolina
      • Dillon County
      • This Kemper is located in Dillon County and lies 792 miles [1,274.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Kemper that is located in Saint Mary Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dillon County community of Kemper.
    • West Virginia
      • Lewis 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 West Virginia community of Kemper [Lewis County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Kemper ...

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.

  • Bonvillain
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Bonvillain is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonvillain
  • Dumesnil
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Dumesnil is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dumesnil
  • Farmers
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Farmers is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmers
  • Florence
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Florence is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
  • Four Corners
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Four Corners is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
  • Freetown
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Freetown is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freetown
  • Gold Mine
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Gold Mine is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold Mine
  • Home Place
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Home Place is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Home Place
  • Ivanhoe
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Ivanhoe is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanhoe
  • Lyons
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Lyons is located in Iberia Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyons
  • Masters
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Masters is located in Iberia Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Masters
  • Richard
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Richard is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richard
  • United
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • United is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for United

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

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

  • Franklin, which is the Seat of Saint Mary Parish, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Kemper to Franklin, with an average speed<3> 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.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 53 miles [85.3 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,041 miles [1,675.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 41 days and walking would take 60 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,934 miles [11,159.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,644 miles [12,301.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,520 miles [8,883.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 from Point A (ie- Kemper) 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 Kemper 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 parish. 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 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.
<4>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 Kemper 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 Kemper. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.8097, Longitude: -91.6676       In this case, the coordinates for Kemper have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.274 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.804 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.859 degrees.