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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Buncombe, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Buncombe 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 Buncombe:
    • 32.458209, -93.845737
    • 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 Buncombe
  • 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 Caddo Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Caddo Parish
    • Since Buncombe is near Bossier Parish and also De Soto Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bossier Parish
    • Open the eBird sighting report for De Soto 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 Buncombe

Communities Also Named Buncombe ...

We found six communities that are also named Buncombe.

Within Louisiana, the name Buncombe is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Johnson County
      • This Buncombe is located in Johnson County and lies 442 miles [711.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Buncombe that is located in Caddo Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Johnson County community of Buncombe.
    • Iowa
      • Dubuque 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 Iowa community of Buncombe [Dubuque County].
    • Kentucky
      • Knott 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 Buncombe [Knott County].
    • Tennessee
      • Franklin 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 Tennessee community of Buncombe [Franklin County].
      • Sullivan County
      • This Buncombe is located in Sullivan County and lies 712 miles [1,145.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Buncombe that is located in Caddo Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sullivan County community of Buncombe.
    • Wisconsin
      • Lafayette 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 Wisconsin community of Buncombe [Lafayette County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Buncombe ...

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.

  • Cannon
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Cannon is located in Caddo Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cannon
  • Cut-off Junction
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Cut-off Junction is located in Caddo Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cut-off Junction
  • Cynthia Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Cynthia Park is located in Caddo Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cynthia Park
  • Five Oaks
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Five Oaks is located in Caddo Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Oaks
  • Forest Oak
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Forest Oak is located in Caddo Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Oak
  • Hickory Place
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Hickory Place is located in Caddo Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Place
  • Holly Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Holly Hill is located in Caddo Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Hill
  • Longwood Village
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Longwood Village is located in Caddo Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longwood Village
  • Quail Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Quail Ridge is located in Caddo Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Ridge
  • Silver Pine Village
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Silver Pine Village is located in Caddo Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Pine Village
  • Steeple Chase
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Steeple Chase is located in Caddo Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steeple Chase
  • Twilight Meadows
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Twilight Meadows is located in Caddo Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twilight Meadows
  • Willow Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Willow Ridge is located in Caddo Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Ridge

How Far From Buncombe 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 Buncombe 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 Buncombe once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Buncombe and extending to:

  • Shreveport, which is the Seat of Caddo Parish, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 210 miles [338 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Buncombe to Baton Rouge, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 12 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,040 miles [1,673.7 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,888 miles [11,085.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,613 miles [12,251.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,489 miles [8,833.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Buncombe) 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 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 Buncombe 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 Buncombe, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Buncombe 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 Buncombe. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.4582, Longitude: -93.8457       In this case, the coordinates for Buncombe have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.965 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.129 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.404 degrees.