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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Saranac, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Saranac 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 Saranac:
    • 32.009323, -91.352893
    • 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 Saranac
  • 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 Tensas Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tensas Parish
    • Since Saranac is near Franklin Parish and also Claiborne County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin Parish
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Claiborne County
  • 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 Saranac

Communities Also Named Saranac ...

We found five communities that are also named Saranac.

Within Louisiana, the name Saranac is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Clay County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Florida community of Saranac [Clay County].
    • Georgia
      • Clayton County
      • This Saranac is located in Clayton County and lies 416 miles [669.5 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Saranac that is located in Tensas Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clayton County community of Saranac.
    • Michigan
      • Ionia County
      • This Saranac is located in Ionia County and lies 825 miles [1,327.7 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Saranac that is located in Tensas Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ionia County community of Saranac.
    • New York
      • Clinton County
      • This Saranac is located in Clinton County and lies 1,287 miles [2,071.2 km]<2> to the northeast of the Saranac that is located in Tensas Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clinton County community of Saranac.
    • Wisconsin
      • Brown County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wisconsin community of Saranac [Brown County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Saranac ...

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.

  • Crimea
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Crimea is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crimea
  • Cross Keys
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Cross Keys is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Keys
  • Dixie ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Dixie is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixie
  • Ferry Newlight Landing
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Hopewell Landing
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Hopewell Landing is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell Landing
  • Justina
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Justina is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Justina
  • Lake Bruin
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Lake Bruin is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Bruin
  • Maryland
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Maryland is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maryland
  • Mayflower
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Mayflower is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayflower
  • Newlight
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Newlight is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newlight
  • Pecan Landing
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Pecan Landing is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pecan Landing
  • Shady Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Shady Grove is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
  • Wildcat
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Wildcat is located in Tensas Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildcat

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

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

  • Saint Joseph, which is the Seat of Tensas Parish, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Saranac to Saint Joseph, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 108 miles [173.8 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 933 miles [1,501.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 37 days and walking would take 53 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,812 miles [10,962.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,528 miles [12,115.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,404 miles [8,696.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Saranac 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.
<2>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Saranac) 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 Saranac 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 Saranac. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.0093, Longitude: -91.3529       In this case, the coordinates for Saranac have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.335 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.168 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.421 degrees.