Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in McElroy, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McElroy and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for McElroy
- 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 McElroy:
- 30.140477, -90.791483
- 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 McElroy
- 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 Ascension Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Ascension Parish
- Since McElroy is near Saint James Parish and also Livingston Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Saint James Parish
- eBird sighting report for Livingston 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 McElroy ...
We found six communities that share the name McElroy.
Within Louisiana, the name McElroy is unique.
Beyond Louisiana, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Georgia
- Montana
- Ohio
- Tennessee
- Texas
Curious and Interesting Names Near McElroy ...
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
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest) - Chatman Town
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chatman Town have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chatman Town
- Chatman Town is located in Saint James Parish
- Convent
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Convent
- Convent is located in Saint James Parish
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Convent <4>
- Duckroost
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest) - Free Town
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest) - Grand Point
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grand Point have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Point
- Grand Point is located in Saint James Parish
- Grand View ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grand View have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand View
- Grand View is located in Saint James Parish
- Romeville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest) - Uncle Sam
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Uncle Sam have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Uncle Sam
- Uncle Sam is located in Saint James Parish
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Uncle Sam <4>
- Union
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest) - Welcome
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
How Far From McElroy 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 McElroy to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in McElroy and extending to:
- Donaldsonville, which is the Seat of Ascension Parish, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from McElroy to Donaldsonville, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest (NW). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take most of two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 987 miles [1,588.4 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 56 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,882 miles [11,075.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,589 miles [12,213.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,466 miles [8,796.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for McElroy. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Ascension Parish: www.ascensionparish.net/
The official website for State of Louisiana: louisiana.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- McElroy) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in McElroy. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.1405, Longitude: -90.7915 In this case, the coordinates for McElroy 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 McElroy 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> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 McElroy to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.78 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.271 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.471 degrees. |