Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Alva, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Alva and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Alva
- 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 Alva:
- 33.637898, -89.507298
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Alva
- 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 Montgomery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
- Since Alva is near Webster County and also Grenada County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Webster County
- eBird sighting report for Grenada 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Alva ...
We found eleven communities that share the name Alva.
There is one other community in Mississippi which is also named Alva.
Beyond Mississippi, we know of another ten communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these ten communities, nine are located in the United States and two are in Canada.
- Communities Located In Mississippi ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Florida
- Georgia
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Missouri
- Oklahoma
- Ontario
- This Alva lies 968 miles [1,557.8 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Alva that is located in Montgomery County.
- Quebec
- This Alva lies 1,192 miles [1,918.3 km]<2> to the northeast of the Alva that is located in Montgomery County.
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Curious and Interesting Names Near Alva ...
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.
- Cedar Hill
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Hill
- Cedar Hill is located in Montgomery County
- Center
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast) - Duck Hill
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duck Hill
- Duck Hill is located in Montgomery County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,760 people
- Gore Springs
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gore Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gore Springs
- Gore Springs is located in Grenada County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gore Springs <5>
- Lilac
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest) - Minerva
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest) - Slate Spring
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slate Spring
- Slate Spring is located in Calhoun County
- Slate Springs
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Slate Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slate Springs
- Slate Springs is located in Calhoun County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 104 people
- Sugar Hill
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sugar Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Hill
- Sugar Hill is located in Montgomery County
- Susie
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north) - Sweatman
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweatman
- Sweatman is located in Montgomery County
How Far From Alva 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 Alva to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Alva and extending to:
- Winona, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Alva to Winona, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
- Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 100 miles [160.9 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 782 miles [1,258.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 31 days and walking would take 45 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,657 miles [10,713.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,374 miles [11,867.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,249 miles [8,447.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Alva. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Mississippi: https://www.ms.gov/
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 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 Alva 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 'straight-line' (or 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- Alva) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Alva. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.6379, Longitude: -89.5073 In this case, the coordinates for Alva have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Alva, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Alva to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.337 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.227 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.38 degrees. |