RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Georgia >> Troup County >> Smiths Mill >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Smiths Mill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Smiths Mill and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Smiths Mill:
    • 32.908462, -84.966324
    • 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 Smiths Mill
  • 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 Troup County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Troup County
    • Since Smiths Mill is near Harris County and also Meriwether County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harris County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Meriwether 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 Smiths Mill

Communities Also Named Smiths Mill ...

We found eight communities that are also named Smiths Mill.

There is one other community in Georgia that is also named Smiths Mill.

Beyond Georgia, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Georgia ...
    • Jasper County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Smiths Mill [Jasper County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Talladega County
      • This Smiths Mill is located in Talladega County and lies 80 miles [128.7 km]<2> to the northwest of the Smiths Mill that is located in Troup County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Talladega County community of Smiths Mill.
    • Arizona
      • Maricopa County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Maricopa County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Maricopa County community of Smiths Mill.
    • Minnesota
      • Blue Earth County
      • This Smiths Mill is located in Blue Earth County and lies 908 miles [1,461.3 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Smiths Mill that is located in Troup County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Blue Earth County community of Smiths Mill.
      • Waseca County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Smiths Mill [Waseca County].
    • Mississippi
      • Simpson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Mississippi community of Smiths Mill [Simpson County].
    • Texas
      • Upshur County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Smiths Mill [Upshur County].
    • Virginia
      • Spotsylvania County
      • This Smiths Mill is located in Spotsylvania County and lies 553 miles [890 km]<2> to the northeast of the Smiths Mill that is located in Troup County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Spotsylvania County community of Smiths Mill.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Smiths Mill ...

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.

  • Big Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Big Springs is located in Troup County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Springs
  • Champion Crossroad
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Champion Crossroad is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Champion Crossroad
  • Federal Hills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Federal Hills is located in Troup County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Federal Hills
  • Gray Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Gray Hill is located in Troup County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray Hill
  • Hopewell
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Hopewell is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell
  • Jones Crossroads
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jones Crossroads is located in Troup County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones Crossroads
  • Oak Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Oak Grove is located in Troup County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Old Chimney
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Old Chimney is located in Troup County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Chimney
  • Pioneer Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Pioneer Village is located in Troup County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pioneer Village
  • Pleasant Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Troup County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Wisdoms Store ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Wisdoms Store is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wisdoms Store
  • Wood Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Wood Valley is located in Troup County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Valley

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

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

  • LaGrange, which is the Seat of Troup County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Smiths Mill to LaGrange, with an average speed<4> 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.
  • Atlanta, which is the State Capital of Georgia, lies 67 miles [107.8 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 605 miles [973.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,503 miles [10,465.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,204 miles [11,593.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,082 miles [8,178.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Smiths Mill, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 drawn from Point A (ie- Smiths Mill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Smiths Mill 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.
<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 Smiths Mill 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 Smiths Mill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.9085, Longitude: -84.9663       In this case, the coordinates for Smiths Mill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.552 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.904 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.708 degrees.