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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Armistead, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Armistead 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 Armistead:
    • 32.005439, -93.380451
    • 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 Armistead
  • 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 Armistead is near De Soto Parish and also Natchitoches 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 Natchitoches 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 Armistead

Communities Also Named Armistead ...

We found seven communities that are also named Armistead.

There is one other community in Louisiana that is also named Armistead.

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

  • Communities Located In Louisiana ...
    • Bienville Parish
      • This Armistead is located in Bienville Parish and lies 26 miles [41.8 km]<1> to the north of the Armistead that is located in Red River Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bienville Parish community of Armistead.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Kern County
      • This Armistead is located in Kern County and lies 1,426 miles [2,294.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Armistead that is located in Red River Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kern County community of Armistead.
    • Kansas
      • Dickinson 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 Kansas community of Armistead [Dickinson County].
      • Pratt County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Armistead [Pratt County].
    • Mississippi
      • Coahoma County
      • This Armistead is located in Coahoma County and lies 228 miles [366.9 km]<1> to the northeast of the Armistead that is located in Red River Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Coahoma County community of Armistead.
      • Rankin 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 Mississippi community of Armistead [Rankin County].
    • Virginia
      • Norfolk City
      • 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 Virginia community of Armistead [Norfolk City].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Armistead ...

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.

  • Ajax
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Ajax is located in Natchitoches Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ajax
  • Edgefield
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Edgefield is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgefield
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 185 people
  • Emmett
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Emmett is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emmett
  • Evelyn
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Evelyn is located in De Soto Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evelyn
  • Grand Bayou
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Grand Bayou is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Bayou
  • Halfway
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Halfway is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halfway
  • Harris
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Harris is located in Natchitoches Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris
  • Lake End
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Lake End is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake End
  • Magnolia
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Magnolia is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
  • Oxbow
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Oxbow is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oxbow
  • Pleasant Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Pleasant Hill is located in Natchitoches Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
  • Redoak
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Redoak is located in Red River Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redoak

How Far From Armistead to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Armistead to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Coushatta, which is the Seat of Red River Parish, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 169 miles [272 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Armistead to Baton Rouge, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,033 miles [1,662.5 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 6,893 miles [11,093.2 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 5,491 miles [8,836.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Armistead) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Armistead 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 Armistead 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 Armistead. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.0054, Longitude: -93.3805       In this case, the coordinates for Armistead have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.614 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.66 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.267 degrees.