RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Louisiana >> Winn Parish >> Old Newport >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Old Newport, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Old Newport 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 Old Newport:
    • 32.105158, -92.340419
    • 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 Old Newport
  • 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 Winn Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Winn Parish
    • Since Old Newport 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 Old Newport

Curious and Interesting Names Near Old Newport ...

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.

  • Chester
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Chester is located in Winn Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chester
  • Cooper ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Cooper is located in Caldwell Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooper
  • Cotton Plant
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Cotton Plant is located in Caldwell Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotton Plant
  • Flat Creek
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Flat Creek is located in Winn Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Creek
  • Gulf Crossing
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Gulf Crossing is located in Jackson Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf Crossing
  • Hickory Springs ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Hickory Springs is located in Jackson Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Springs
  • Hickory Valley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Hickory Valley is located in Winn Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Valley
  • Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Hill is located in Winn Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill
  • Lyons
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Lyons is located in Jackson Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyons
  • Mount Pleasant
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Caldwell Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Pleasant Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Pleasant Hill is located in Jackson Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
  • Royal
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Royal is located in Winn Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal
  • Vixen
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Vixen is located in Caldwell Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vixen

How Far From Old Newport 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 Old Newport 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<1> community of Old Newport once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Old Newport and extending to:

  • Winnfield, which is the Seat of Winn Parish, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Old Newport to Winnfield, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 133 miles [214 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 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 977 miles [1,572.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 56 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,847 miles [11,019.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,566 miles [12,176.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,442 miles [8,758.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Old Newport, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>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 from Point A (ie- Old Newport) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Old Newport 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 Old Newport. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.1052, Longitude: -92.3404       In this case, the coordinates for Old Newport have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.965 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.915 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.816 degrees.