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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Luna, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Luna and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Luna:
    • 32.325151, -92.222083
    • 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 Luna
  • 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 Ouachita Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ouachita Parish
    • Since Luna is near Caldwell Parish and also Jackson Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Caldwell Parish
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson 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 Luna

Communities Also Named Luna ...

We found nine communities that are also named Luna.

Within Louisiana, the name Luna is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • DeKalb County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Alabama community of Luna [DeKalb County].
    • Arkansas
      • Chicot County
      • This Luna is located in Chicot County and lies 93 miles [149.7 km]<2> to the northeast of the Luna that is located in Ouachita Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chicot County community of Luna.
    • Minnesota
      • Marshall County
      • This Luna is located in Marshall County and lies 1,125 miles [1,810.5 km]<2> to the north of the Luna that is located in Ouachita Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marshall County community of Luna.
    • Missouri
      • Ozark County
      • This Luna is located in Ozark County and lies 298 miles [479.6 km]<2> to the north of the Luna that is located in Ouachita Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ozark County community of Luna.
    • New Mexico
      • Catron County
      • This Luna is located in Catron County and lies 972 miles [1,564.3 km]<2> to the west of the Luna that is located in Ouachita Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Catron County community of Luna.
      • Lincoln County
      • This Luna is located in Lincoln County and lies 786 miles [1,264.9 km] to the west northwest of the Luna that is located in Ouachita Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lincoln County community of Luna.
    • Tennessee
      • Marshall County
      • This Luna is located in Marshall County and lies 378 miles [608.3 km]<2> to the northeast of the Luna that is located in Ouachita Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marshall County community of Luna.
    • Texas
      • Freestone County
      • This Luna is located in Freestone County and lies 240 miles [386.2 km]<2> to the west of the Luna that is located in Ouachita Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Freestone County community of Luna.
    • Washington
      • Klickitat County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Washington community of Luna [Klickitat County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Luna ...

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.

  • Corey
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Corey is located in Caldwell Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corey
  • Cuba
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Cuba is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuba
  • Cypress
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Cypress is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cypress
  • Forest Oaks
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Forest Oaks is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Oaks
  • Green Terrace
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Terrace is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Terrace
  • Hickory Springs ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Hickory Springs is located in Jackson Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Springs
  • Kings Oaks
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Kings Oaks is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Oaks
  • Lincoln Park
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Lincoln Park is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Park
  • Logtown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Logtown is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Logtown
  • Mineral Springs
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Mineral Springs is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral Springs
  • Mount Pleasant
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Richwood
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Richwood is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richwood
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,375 people
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Robinson Place
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Robinson Place is located in Ouachita Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robinson Place
    • Sunnybrook Farms
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Sunnybrook Farms is located in Ouachita Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnybrook Farms
    • Vixen
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Vixen is located in Caldwell Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vixen
    • Wood Junction
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Wood Junction is located in Jackson Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Junction

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

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

  • Monroe, which is the Seat of Ouachita Parish, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Luna to Monroe, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 143 miles [230.1 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 963 miles [1,549.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 38 days and walking would take 55 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,831 miles [10,993.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,551 miles [12,152.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,426 miles [8,732.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Luna, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>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 from Point A (ie- Luna) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Luna 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.
<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 Luna 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 Luna. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.3252, Longitude: -92.2221       In this case, the coordinates for Luna have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.914 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.885 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.734 degrees.