RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Kent County >> Kinney >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Kinney, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Kinney 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 Kinney:
    • 43.015963, -85.768155
    • 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 Kinney
  • 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 Kent County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kent County
    • Since Kinney is near Ottawa County and also Muskegon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ottawa County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Muskegon 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 Kinney

Communities Also Named Kinney ...

We found nine communities that are also named Kinney.

There is one other community in Michigan that is also named Kinney.

Beyond Michigan, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Michigan ...
    • Newaygo County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Kinney [Newaygo County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Putnam County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Florida community of Kinney [Putnam County].
    • Kansas
      • Osage County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Kinney [Osage County].
    • Kentucky
      • Lewis County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Kinney [Lewis County].
    • Minnesota
      • Saint Louis County
      • This Kinney is located in Saint Louis County and lies 458 miles [737.1 km]<2> to the northwest of the Kinney that is located in Kent County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis County community of Kinney.
    • Nebraska
      • Gage County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Gage County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gage County community of Kinney.
    • New Mexico
      • Bernalillo County
      • This Kinney is located in Bernalillo County and lies 1,245 miles [2,003.6 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Kinney that is located in Kent County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bernalillo County community of Kinney.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Potter County
      • This Kinney is located in Potter County and lies 404 miles [650.2 km]<2> to the east of the Kinney that is located in Kent County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Potter County community of Kinney.
    • Texas
      • Kinney County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Kinney [Kinney County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Kinney ...

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.

How Far From Kinney to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Kinney to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Grand Rapids, which is the Seat of Kent County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 64 miles [103 km]<2> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could walk a straight line from Kinney to Lansing, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 536 miles [862.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 21 days and walking would take 31 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,059 miles [9,751 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,798 miles [10,940.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,681 miles [7,533.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Kinney 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Kinney) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Kinney, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Kinney 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 Kinney. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.0160, Longitude: -85.7682       In this case, the coordinates for Kinney have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.18 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.067 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.288 degrees.