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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Port Union, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Port Union 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 Port Union:
    • 32.664584, -92.141246
    • 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 Port Union
  • 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 Union Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Union Parish
    • Since Port Union is near Ouachita Parish and also Morehouse Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ouachita Parish
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Morehouse 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 Port Union

Communities Also Named Port Union ...

We found three communities that are also named Port Union.

Within Louisiana, the name Port Union is unique.

Beyond Louisiana, we know of three communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these three communities, one is located in the United States and the other four communities are located in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Newfoundland and Labrador
      • This Port Union lies 2,286 miles [3,679 km]<1> to the northeast of the Port Union that is located in Union Parish.
    • Ohio
      • Butler County
      • This Port Union is located in Butler County and lies 628 miles [1,010.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Port Union that is located in Union Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of Port Union.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Port Union.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Port Union ...

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.

  • Crossroads
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Crossroads is located in Union Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossroads
  • Fish Creek
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Fish Creek is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fish Creek
  • Forest Home
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Forest Home is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Home
  • Forest Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Forest Park is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Park
  • Fowler
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Fowler is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fowler
  • Green Springs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Green Springs is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Springs
  • Hammock
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Hammock is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hammock
  • Leisure Village
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Leisure Village is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leisure Village
  • Oliver
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Oliver is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oliver
  • Pecan Bayou
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Pecan Bayou is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pecan Bayou
  • Point
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Point is located in Union Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point
  • Rocky Branch
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Rocky Branch is located in Union Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Branch
  • Sunshine Heights
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Sunshine Heights is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunshine Heights
  • Treasure Island
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Treasure Island is located in Ouachita Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Treasure Island

How Far From Port Union to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Port Union 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<3> community of Port Union once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Port Union and extending to:

  • Farmerville, which is the Seat of Union Parish, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Port Union to Farmerville, 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 five to six hours.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 163 miles [262.3 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 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 947 miles [1,524 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 37 days and walking would take 54 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,810 miles [10,959.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,532 miles [12,121.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,407 miles [8,701.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Port Union) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Port Union 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>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 Port Union, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Port Union 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 Port Union. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.6646, Longitude: -92.1412       In this case, the coordinates for Port Union have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.899 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.912 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.649 degrees.