Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Cook, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cook and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Cook
- 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 Cook:
- 31.975166, -93.837686
- 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 Cook
- 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 De Soto Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for De Soto Parish
- Since Cook is near Sabine Parish and also Shelby County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Sabine Parish
- eBird sighting report for Shelby County
- 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 Cook ...
We found seventeen communities that share the name Cook.
Within Louisiana, the name Cook is unique.
Beyond Louisiana, we know of another seventeen communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Indiana
- Bartholomew County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Indiana community of Cook [Bartholomew County].
- Lake County
- This Cook is located in Lake County and lies 738 miles [1,187.7 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Cook that is located in De Soto Parish.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lake County community of Cook.
- Kansas
- Minnesota
- Nebraska
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- South Carolina
- Aiken County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Cook [Aiken County].
- Anderson 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 South Carolina community of Cook [Anderson County].
- Williamsburg County
- This Cook is located in Williamsburg County and lies 840 miles [1,351.8 km]<2> to the east of the Cook that is located in De Soto Parish.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Williamsburg County community of Cook.
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
Curious and Interesting Names Near Cook ...
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.
- Coker
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east) - Grand Cane
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Cane
- Grand Cane is located in De Soto Parish
- Population from the 2020 Census: 238 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Grand Cane <4>
- Halcyon ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east) - Hunter
(5 miles [8 km] to the south) - Meadow Park
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meadow Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Park
- Meadow Park is located in De Soto Parish
- Porter Place
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Porter Place have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porter Place
- Porter Place is located in De Soto Parish
- Screamerville ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Screamerville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Screamerville
- Screamerville is located in De Soto Parish
- Spider ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast) - Stanley
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west) - Wood Springs
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wood Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Springs
- Wood Springs is located in De Soto Parish
How Far From Cook 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 Cook 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<6> community of Cook once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Cook and extending to:
- Mansfield, which is the Seat of De Soto Parish, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Cook to Mansfield, with an average speed<7> 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 190 miles [305.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,056 miles [1,699.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 42 days and walking would take 60 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,913 miles [11,125.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,636 miles [12,289 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,512 miles [8,870.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Louisiana: louisiana.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Cook 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. |
| <2> | 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- Cook) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Cook. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.9752, Longitude: -93.8377 In this case, the coordinates for Cook have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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> | 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 Cook, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Cook 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 317.903 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.994 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.464 degrees. |