RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Berks County >> Kempton >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Kempton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Kempton 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 Kempton:
    • 40.626204, -75.852421
    • 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 Kempton
  • 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 Berks County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Berks County
    • Since Kempton is near Lehigh County and also Schuylkill County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lehigh County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Schuylkill 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 Kempton

Communities Also Named Kempton ...

We found six communities that are also named Kempton.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Kempton is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Ford County
      • This Kempton is located in Ford County and lies 647 miles [1,041.2 km]<1> to the west of the Kempton that is located in Berks County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ford County community of Kempton.
    • Indiana
      • Tipton County
      • This Kempton is located in Tipton County and lies 545 miles [877.1 km]<1> to the west of the Kempton that is located in Berks County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tipton County community of Kempton.
    • Maryland
      • Garrett County
      • This Kempton is located in Garrett County and lies 215 miles [346 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Kempton that is located in Berks County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Garrett County community of Kempton.
    • North Dakota
      • Grand Forks County
      • This Kempton is located in Grand Forks County and lies 1,180 miles [1,899 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Kempton that is located in Berks County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grand Forks County community of Kempton.
    • Ohio
      • Allen 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 Ohio community of Kempton [Allen County].
    • Wisconsin
      • Eau Claire 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 Wisconsin community of Kempton [Eau Claire County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Kempton ...

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.

  • Eagle Point
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Eagle Point is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Point
  • Grimville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Grimville is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grimville
  • Krumsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Krumsville is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Krumsville
  • Lynnport
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Lynnport is located in Lehigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynnport
  • Lynnville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Lynnville is located in Lehigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynnville
  • New Tripoli
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Quaker City
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Quaker City is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quaker City
  • Slateville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Slateville is located in Lehigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slateville
  • Stony Run
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Stony Run is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Run
  • Virginville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)

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

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

  • Reading, which is the Seat of Berks County, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Kempton to Reading, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 59 miles [95 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 134 miles [215.7 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,775 miles [9,294 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,485 miles [10,436.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,360 miles [7,016.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

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- Kempton) 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 Kempton 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Kempton 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 Kempton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6262, Longitude: -75.8524       In this case, the coordinates for Kempton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.053 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.76 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.508 degrees.