RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Louisiana >> Red River Parish >> Abington >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Abington, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Abington 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 Abington:
    • 32.111631, -93.478830
    • 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 Abington
  • 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 parish-by-parish basis. We have selected Red River Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Red River Parish
    • Since Abington is near De Soto Parish and also Caddo Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for De Soto Parish
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Caddo Parish
  • 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 Abington

Communities Also Named Abington ...

We found nine communities that are also named Abington.

Within Louisiana, the name Abington is unique.

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

In addition to the above occurrences of Abington, we know of two communities located outside of the United States and Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Connecticut
      • Windham County
      • This Abington is located in Windham County and lies 1,356 miles [2,182.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Abington that is located in Red River Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Windham County community of Abington.
    • Indiana
      • Wayne County
      • This Abington is located in Wayne County and lies 709 miles [1,141 km]<1> to the northeast of the Abington that is located in Red River Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of Abington.
    • Maryland
      • Harford 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 Maryland community of Abington [Harford County].
    • Massachusetts
      • Plymouth County
      • This Abington is located in Plymouth County and lies 1,413 miles [2,274 km]<1> to the northeast of the Abington that is located in Red River Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Plymouth County community of Abington.
    • North Carolina
      • Forsyth County
      • This Abington is located in Forsyth County and lies 813 miles [1,308.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Abington that is located in Red River Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Forsyth County community of Abington.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Montgomery County
      • This Abington is located in Montgomery County and lies 1,160 miles [1,866.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Abington that is located in Red River Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Abington.
    • Texas
      • Childress County
      • This Abington is located in Childress County and lies 422 miles [679.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Abington that is located in Red River Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Childress County community of Abington.
  • Communities Beyond North America ...
    • Scotland
      • Distance: 4,412 miles [7,100.4 km]<1> to the northeast
      • Open a Google Map centered on Abington
    • Ireland
      • Distance: 4,293 miles [6,908.9 km]<1> to the northeast
      • Open a Google Map centered on Abington

Curious and Interesting Names Near Abington ...

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.

  • Bayou Pierre
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Bayou Pierre is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayou Pierre
  • Cross Roads
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Cross Roads is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
  • Crosskeys
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Crosskeys is located in Caddo Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crosskeys
  • Emmett
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Emmett is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emmett
  • Evelyn
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Evelyn is located in De Soto Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evelyn
  • Grand Bayou
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Grand Bayou is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Bayou
  • Halfway
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Howard
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Howard is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howard
  • Loggy Bayou
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Loggy Bayou is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loggy Bayou
  • Magnolia
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Magnolia is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
  • Oxbow
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Oxbow is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oxbow

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

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

  • Coushatta, which is the Seat of Red River Parish, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Abington to Coushatta, with an average speed<3> 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.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 178 miles [286.5 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,034 miles [1,664.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 41 days and walking would take 59 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,891 miles [11,090 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,615 miles [12,255.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,490 miles [8,835.3 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 from Point A (ie- Abington) 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 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 Abington 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 parish. 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 Abington 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 Abington. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.1116, Longitude: -93.4788    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.689 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.762 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.294 degrees.