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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Goodwood, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Goodwood 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 Goodwood:
    • 30.730742, -91.764004
    • 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 Goodwood
  • 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 Landry Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Landry Parish
    • Since Goodwood is near Pointe Coupee Parish and also Avoyelles Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pointe Coupee Parish
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Avoyelles 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 Goodwood

Communities Also Named Goodwood ...

We found three communities that are also named Goodwood.

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

Beyond Louisiana, we know of two communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these two communities, one is located in the United States and the other three communities are located in Canada.

  • Communities Located In Louisiana ...
    • East Baton Rouge Parish
      • This Goodwood is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and lies 43 miles [69.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Goodwood that is located in Saint Landry Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the East Baton Rouge Parish community of Goodwood.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Nova Scotia
      • 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 Nova Scotia community of Goodwood.
    • Ontario
      • This Goodwood lies 1,145 miles [1,842.7 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Goodwood that is located in Saint Landry Parish.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Goodwood ...

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.

  • Argyle
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Argyle is located in Pointe Coupee Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argyle
  • Bat
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Bat is located in Saint Landry Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bat
  • Coon
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Coon is located in Pointe Coupee Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coon
  • Elba
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Elba is located in Saint Landry Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elba
  • Gordon
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Gordon is located in Saint Landry Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon
  • Half Moon
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Half Moon is located in Saint Landry Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Half Moon
  • New California
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • New California is located in Pointe Coupee Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New California
  • Randall ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Randall is located in Pointe Coupee Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randall
  • Ravenswood
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Ravenswood is located in Pointe Coupee Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenswood
  • Second Lake ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Second Lake is located in Saint Landry Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Second Lake
  • Woodside
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Woodside is located in Saint Landry Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodside

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

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

  • Opelousas, which is the Seat of Saint Landry Parish, lies 23 miles [37 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Goodwood to Opelousas, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 41 miles [66 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,005 miles [1,617.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of 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 6,892 miles [11,091.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,606 miles [12,240.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,481 miles [8,820.8 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Goodwood) 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 Goodwood 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 Goodwood 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 Goodwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.7307, Longitude: -91.7640       In this case, the coordinates for Goodwood have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.447 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.128 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.774 degrees.