RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Louisiana >> Tensas Parish >> Balmoral >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Balmoral, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Balmoral 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 Balmoral:
    • 32.114875, -91.224001
    • 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 Balmoral
  • 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 Tensas Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tensas Parish
    • Since Balmoral is near Warren County and also Madison Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Warren County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison 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 Balmoral

Communities Also Named Balmoral ...

We found ten communities that are also named Balmoral.

Within Louisiana, the name Balmoral is unique.

Beyond Louisiana, we know of ten communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these ten communities, five are located in the United States and five are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • British Columbia
      • This Balmoral lies 1,925 miles [3,098 km]<1> to the northwest of the Balmoral that is located in Tensas Parish.
    • Manitoba
      • This Balmoral lies 1,291 miles [2,077.7 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Balmoral that is located in Tensas Parish.
    • Maryland
      • Frederick County
      • This Balmoral is located in Frederick County and lies 927 miles [1,491.9 km]<1> to the northeast of the Balmoral that is located in Tensas Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Frederick County community of Balmoral.
    • Minnesota
      • Otter Tail 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 Minnesota community of Balmoral [Otter Tail County].
    • New Brunswick
      • This Balmoral lies 1,694 miles [2,726.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Balmoral that is located in Tensas Parish.
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Balmoral lies 1,854 miles [2,983.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Balmoral that is located in Tensas Parish.
    • Ontario
      • This Balmoral lies 965 miles [1,553 km]<1> to the northeast of the Balmoral that is located in Tensas Parish.
    • South Dakota
      • Balmoral #
      • This community is historic<2> and we have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for Balmoral.
    • Tennessee
      • Hamilton County
      • This Balmoral is located in Hamilton County and lies 396 miles [637.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Balmoral that is located in Tensas Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Balmoral.
    • Wisconsin
      • Richland County
      • This Balmoral is located in Richland County and lies 768 miles [1,236 km]<1> to the north of the Balmoral that is located in Tensas Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richland County community of Balmoral.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Balmoral ...

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.

  • Crimea
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Crimea is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crimea
  • Dearborn
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Dearborn is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dearborn
  • Ferry Newlight Landing
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Grand Gulf
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Grand Gulf is located in Claiborne County (MS)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Gulf
  • Hopewell Landing
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Hopewell Landing is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell Landing
  • Hurricane
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hurricane is located in Warren County (MS)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hurricane
  • King
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • King is located in Madison Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for King
  • Lake Bruin
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Lake Bruin is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Bruin
  • New Quarters
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • New Quarters is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Quarters
  • Newlight
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Newlight is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newlight
  • Pecan Landing
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Pecan Landing is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pecan Landing
  • Wildcat
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Wildcat is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildcat

How Far From Balmoral to ...

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

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

  • Saint Joseph, which is the Seat of Tensas Parish, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Balmoral to Saint Joseph, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 115 miles [185.1 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 923 miles [1,485.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 53 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,801 miles [10,945.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,518 miles [12,099 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,393 miles [8,679.2 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- Balmoral) 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 Balmoral 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 Balmoral 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 Balmoral. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.1149, Longitude: -91.2240       In this case, the coordinates for Balmoral have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.266 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.101 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.351 degrees.