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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Goodwill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Goodwill 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 Goodwill:
    • 32.588761, -93.432672
    • 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 Goodwill
  • 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 Webster Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Webster Parish
    • Since Goodwill is near Bossier Parish and also Bienville 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 Bienville 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 Goodwill

Communities Also Named Goodwill ...

We found eight communities that are also named Goodwill.

There is one other community in Louisiana that is also named Goodwill.

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

  • Communities Located In Louisiana ...
    • West Carroll Parish
      • This Goodwill is located in West Carroll Parish and lies 109 miles [175.4 km]<1> to the east of the Goodwill that is located in Webster Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the West Carroll Parish community of Goodwill.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Franklin 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 Georgia community of Goodwill [Franklin County].
    • Maryland
      • Worcester County
      • This Goodwill is located in Worcester County and lies 1,077 miles [1,733.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Goodwill that is located in Webster Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Worcester County community of Goodwill.
    • North Carolina
      • Forsyth 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 Goodwill [Forsyth County].
    • South Dakota
      • Roberts County
      • This Goodwill is located in Roberts County and lies 916 miles [1,474.2 km]<1> to the north of the Goodwill that is located in Webster Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roberts County community of Goodwill.
    • Texas
      • Burleson County
      • This Goodwill is located in Burleson County and lies 230 miles [370.1 km]<1> to the southwest of the Goodwill that is located in Webster Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Burleson County community of Goodwill.
      • Washington County
      • This Goodwill is located in Washington County and lies 229 miles [368.5 km] to the southwest of the Goodwill that is located in Webster Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Goodwill.
    • West Virginia
      • Mercer County
      • This Goodwill is located in Mercer County and lies 760 miles [1,223.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Goodwill that is located in Webster Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mercer County community of Goodwill.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Goodwill ...

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.

  • Dixie Inn
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Dixie Inn is located in Webster Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixie Inn
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 266 people
  • Grim
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Grim is located in Webster Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grim
  • Happy Meadows
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Happy Meadows is located in Bossier Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Happy Meadows
  • Leslie
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Leslie is located in Bossier Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leslie
  • Long Springs
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Long Springs is located in Webster Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Springs
  • Merrywoods
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Merrywoods is located in Bossier Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrywoods
  • Mimosa Gardens
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Mimosa Gardens is located in Bossier Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mimosa Gardens
  • Petes Ferry
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Petes Ferry is located in Webster Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Petes Ferry
  • Shady Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Shady Park is located in Bossier Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Park
  • Tall Timbers
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Tall Timbers is located in Bossier Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tall Timbers
  • Wafer Forest
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Wafer Forest is located in Bossier Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wafer Forest
  • Yellow Pine
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Yellow Pine is located in Webster Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yellow Pine

How Far From Goodwill to ...

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

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

  • Minden, which is the Seat of Webster Parish, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 199 miles [320.3 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Goodwill to Baton Rouge, with an average speed<3>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 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,014 miles [1,631.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 40 days and walking would take 58 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,865 miles [11,048.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,590 miles [12,214.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,466 miles [8,796.7 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 from Point A (ie- Goodwill) 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 Goodwill 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 Goodwill 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 Goodwill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.5888, Longitude: -93.4327       In this case, the coordinates for Goodwill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.714 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.853 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.209 degrees.