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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lauderdale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lauderdale 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 Lauderdale:
    • 30.086311, -90.914542
    • 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 Lauderdale
  • 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 James Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint James Parish
    • Since Lauderdale is near Ascension Parish and also Assumption Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ascension Parish
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Assumption 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 Lauderdale

Communities Also Named Lauderdale ...

We found five communities that are also named Lauderdale.

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

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

  • Communities Located In Louisiana ...
    • Allen Parish
      • This Lauderdale is located in Allen Parish and lies 114 miles [183.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Lauderdale that is located in Saint James Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allen Parish community of Lauderdale.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Coosa 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 Alabama community of Lauderdale [Coosa County].
    • Minnesota
      • Ramsey County
      • This Lauderdale is located in Ramsey County and lies 1,036 miles [1,667.3 km]<1> to the north of the Lauderdale that is located in Saint James Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ramsey County community of Lauderdale.
    • Mississippi
      • Lauderdale County
      • This Lauderdale is located in Lauderdale County and lies 219 miles [352.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the Lauderdale that is located in Saint James Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lauderdale County community of Lauderdale.
    • Wisconsin
      • Walworth County
      • This Lauderdale is located in Walworth County and lies 885 miles [1,424.3 km]<1> to the north of the Lauderdale that is located in Saint James Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Walworth County community of Lauderdale.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lauderdale ...

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.

  • Central
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Central is located in Saint James Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central
  • Chatman Town
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Chatman Town is located in Saint James Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chatman Town
  • Convent
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Free Town
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Free Town is located in Saint James Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Free Town
  • Hillaryville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Hillaryville is located in Ascension Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillaryville
  • Minnie ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Minnie is located in Saint James Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minnie
  • Rearwood ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Rearwood is located in Ascension Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rearwood
  • Romeville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Romeville is located in Saint James Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Romeville
  • Smoke Bend
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Smoke Bend is located in Ascension Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smoke Bend
  • Uncle Sam
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Union
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Union is located in Saint James Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
  • Welcome
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Welcome is located in Saint James Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Welcome

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

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

  • Convent, which is the Seat of Saint James Parish, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 28 miles [45.1 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from Lauderdale to Baton Rouge, with an average speed<4> 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 just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 995 miles [1,601.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 57 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,889 miles [11,086.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,597 miles [12,226.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,474 miles [8,809.5 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Lauderdale) 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 Lauderdale 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 Lauderdale 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 Lauderdale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.0863, Longitude: -90.9145       In this case, the coordinates for Lauderdale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.848 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.344 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.526 degrees.