Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Santiago, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Santiago and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Santiago
- 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 Santiago:
- 31.442122, -92.604311
- 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 Santiago
- 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 Grant Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Grant Parish
- Since Santiago is near Rapides Parish and also Natchitoches Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Rapides Parish
- eBird sighting report for Natchitoches 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 Santiago ...
We found ten communities that share the name Santiago.
Within Louisiana, the name Santiago is unique.
Beyond Louisiana, we know of another ten communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arizona
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Nevada
- New Mexico
- Pennsylvania
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Santiago ...
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.
- Alfalfa
(5 miles [8 km] to the south) - Bagdad
(Less than 2 miles to the north) - Kateland
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west) - Magnolia Park
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Magnolia Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia Park
- Magnolia Park is located in Grant Parish
- Mead ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south) - Oak Grove
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast) - Oasis
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west) - Prospect
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Ravencamp
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest) - Rock
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west) - Rock Hill
(Less than 2 miles to the east) - Stay
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stay
- Stay is located in Grant Parish
- Timber Trails
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Timber Trails have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timber Trails
- Timber Trails is located in Rapides Parish
How Far From Santiago 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 Santiago 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 community of Santiago once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Santiago and extending to:
- Colfax, which is the Seat of Grant Parish, lies just to the Northwest.
- Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 109 miles [175.4 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Santiago to Baton Rouge, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,016 miles [1,635.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 40 days and walking would take 58 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,891 miles [11,090 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,609 miles [12,245.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,484 miles [8,825.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Louisiana: louisiana.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Santiago) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Santiago. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.4421, Longitude: -92.6043 In this case, the coordinates for Santiago 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 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 Santiago 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 Santiago, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <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 Santiago 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 317.056 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.933 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.019 degrees. |