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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Harrisonburg, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Harrisonburg 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 Harrisonburg:
    • 31.772210, -91.821377
    • 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 Harrisonburg
  • 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 Catahoula Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Catahoula Parish
    • Since Harrisonburg is near Franklin Parish and also Concordia Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin Parish
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Concordia 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 Harrisonburg

Communities Also Named Harrisonburg ...

We found one communities that are also named Harrisonburg.

Within Louisiana, the name Harrisonburg is unique.

Beyond Louisiana, there is another community also named Harrisonburg in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Virginia
      • Harrisonburg City
      • This Harrisonburg is located in Harrisonburg City and lies 863 miles [1,388.9 km]<1> to the northeast of the Harrisonburg that is located in Catahoula Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harrisonburg City community of Harrisonburg.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Harrisonburg ...

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.

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

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

  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 99 miles [159.3 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Harrisonburg to Baton Rouge, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 965 miles [1,553 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 38 days and walking would take 55 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,843 miles [11,012.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,560 miles [12,166.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,435 miles [8,746.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (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- Harrisonburg) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Harrisonburg 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 Harrisonburg. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.7722, Longitude: -91.8214    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.602 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.448 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.649 degrees.