Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Halcyon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Halcyon and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Halcyon
- 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 Halcyon:
- 31.940165, -93.716850
- 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 Halcyon
- 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 Halcyon is near Sabine Parish and also Red River Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Sabine Parish
- eBird sighting report for Red River 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Halcyon ...
We found five communities that share the name Halcyon.
Within Louisiana, the name Halcyon is unique.
Beyond Louisiana, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- California
- Kansas
- Missouri
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Halcyon ...
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
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north) - Cook ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west) - Eudora ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast) - Hunter
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west) - Meadow Park
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)- 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
- Pelican
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pelican have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pelican
- Pelican is located in De Soto Parish
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pelican <4>
- Porter Place
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)- 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
- Spider ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west) - Union Springs
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Union Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Springs
- Union Springs is located in Sabine Parish
- Wildwood
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north) - Willow Glen
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Willow Glen have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Glen
- Willow Glen is located in De Soto Parish
How Far From Halcyon 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 Halcyon 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<5> community of Halcyon once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Halcyon and extending to:
- Mansfield, which is the Seat of De Soto Parish, lies just to the North.
- Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 182 miles [292.9 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Halcyon to Baton Rouge, with an average speed<6>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 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,052 miles [1,693 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 41 days and walking would take 60 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,910 miles [11,120.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,633 miles [12,284.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,508 miles [8,864.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Louisiana: louisiana.gov/
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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Halcyon) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Halcyon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.9402, Longitude: -93.7168 In this case, the coordinates for Halcyon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Halcyon 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> | 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> | 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 Halcyon, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Halcyon to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.821 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.894 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.418 degrees. |