Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Beech, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Beech and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Beech
- 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 Beech:
- 31.936275, -92.397364
- 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 Beech
- 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 Winn Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Winn Parish
- Since Beech is near La Salle Parish and also Grant Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for La Salle Parish
- eBird sighting report for Grant 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Beech ...
We found nine communities that share the name Beech.
Within Louisiana, the name Beech is unique.
Beyond Louisiana, we know of another nine communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Breathitt County
- This Beech is located in Breathitt County and lies 632 miles [1,017.1 km]<1> to the northeast of the Beech that is located in Winn Parish.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Breathitt County community of Beech.
- Harlan 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 Kentucky community of Beech [Harlan County].
- Michigan
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Licking County
- This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Beech [Licking County].
- Marion County
- This community is historic and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Beech [Marion County].
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Beech ...
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.
- Curry ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south) - Flat Creek
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Flat Creek. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Creek
- Flat Creek is located in Winn Parish
- Grandstaff
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grandstaff have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandstaff
- Grandstaff is located in Grant Parish
- Hickory Valley
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hickory Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Valley
- Hickory Valley is located in Winn Parish
- Hill
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north) - Joyce
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Joyce have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joyce
- Joyce is located in Winn Parish
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Joyce <6>
- Kelly Front ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kelly Front have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kelly Front
- Kelly Front is located in Winn Parish
- Maxwells Old Ferry
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maxwells Old Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxwells Old Ferry
- Maxwells Old Ferry is located in Winn Parish
- Royal
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest) - Salt ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south) - Standard
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east) - Zion
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
How Far From Beech 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 Beech to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Beech once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Beech and extending to:
- Winnfield, which is the Seat of Winn Parish, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Beech to Winnfield, with an average speed<7> 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 four to five hours.
- Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 126 miles [202.8 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 987 miles [1,588.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 56 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,857 miles [11,035.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,577 miles [12,194 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,452 miles [8,774.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Louisiana: https://www.louisiana.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Beech) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Beech. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.9363, Longitude: -92.3974 In this case, the coordinates for Beech have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Beech 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> | 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 Beech, 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> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <6> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <7> | 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. |
| <8> | 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 Beech to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.982 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.913 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.864 degrees. |