RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Missouri >> Gentry County >> Whitten >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Whitten, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Whitten 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 Whitten:
    • 40.177220, -94.273288
    • 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 Whitten
  • 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 Gentry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gentry County
    • Since Whitten is near Harrison County and also Daviess County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harrison County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Daviess 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 Whitten

Communities Also Named Whitten ...

We found two communities that are also named Whitten.

Within Missouri, the name Whitten is unique.

Beyond Missouri, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Hardin County
      • This Whitten is located in Hardin County and lies 158 miles [254.3 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Whitten that is located in Gentry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hardin County community of Whitten.
    • South Dakota
      • Tripp 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 South Dakota community of Whitten [Tripp County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Whitten ...

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.

  • Berlin
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Berlin is located in Gentry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berlin
  • Fairport
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Fairport is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairport
  • Ford City
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Ford City is located in Gentry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ford City
  • Lone Star
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Lone Star is located in Gentry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Star
  • Martinsville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Martinsville is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinsville
  • Mount Pleasant
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Gentry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Pinhook
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Pinhook is located in Gentry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinhook
  • Pleasant Ridge
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Pleasant Ridge is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
  • Voyage ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Voyage is located in Gentry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Voyage
  • Wildwood
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Wildwood is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood

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

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

  • Albany, which is the Seat of Gentry County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 157 miles [252.7 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Whitten to Jefferson City, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 920 miles [1,480.6 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 53 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,505 miles [10,468.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,252 miles [11,671 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,144 miles [8,278.5 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Whitten) 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 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 Whitten 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>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 Whitten 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 Whitten. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1772, Longitude: -94.2733       In this case, the coordinates for Whitten have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.879 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.195 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.295 degrees.