RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Louisiana >> Saint Mary Parish >> Gold Mine >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gold Mine, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gold Mine 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 Gold Mine:
    • 29.836317, -91.599836
    • 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 Gold Mine
  • 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 Saint Mary Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Mary Parish
    • Since Gold Mine is near Iberia Parish and also Saint Martin Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Iberia Parish
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Martin 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 Gold Mine

Communities Also Named Gold Mine ...

We found three communities that are also named Gold Mine.

Within Louisiana, the name Gold Mine is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Marion County
      • This Gold Mine is located in Marion County and lies 367 miles [590.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Gold Mine that is located in Saint Mary Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Gold Mine.
    • North Carolina
      • Macon 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 North Carolina community of Gold Mine [Macon County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Lebanon County
      • This Gold Mine is located in Lebanon County and lies 1,122 miles [1,805.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Gold Mine that is located in Saint Mary Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lebanon County community of Gold Mine.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gold Mine ...

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.

  • Bonvillain
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Bonvillain is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonvillain
  • Camperdown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Camperdown is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camperdown
  • Dumesnil
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Dumesnil is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dumesnil
  • Farmers
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Farmers is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmers
  • Four Corners
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Four Corners is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
  • Franklin
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Freetown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Freetown is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freetown
  • Home Place
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Home Place is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Home Place
  • Katy
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Katy is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Katy
  • Lyons
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Lyons is located in Iberia Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyons
  • Masters
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Masters is located in Iberia Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Masters
  • Matilda
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Matilda is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Matilda
  • Richard
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Richard is located in Saint Mary Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richard

How Far From Gold Mine 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 Gold Mine to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Franklin, which is the Seat of Saint Mary Parish, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 50 miles [80.5 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could walk a straight line from Gold Mine to Baton Rouge, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,037 miles [1,668.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, 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 6,930 miles [11,152.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,640 miles [12,295.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,516 miles [8,877.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Gold Mine) 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 Gold Mine 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Gold Mine 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 Gold Mine. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.8363, Longitude: -91.5998       In this case, the coordinates for Gold Mine have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.236 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.763 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.828 degrees.