RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Louisiana >> Saint Landry Parish >> Second Lake >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Second Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Second Lake 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 Second Lake:
    • 30.660745, -91.793171
    • 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 Second Lake
  • 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 Saint Landry Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Landry Parish
    • Since Second Lake is near Pointe Coupee Parish and also Avoyelles Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pointe Coupee Parish
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Avoyelles 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 Second Lake

Curious and Interesting Names Near Second Lake ...

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.

  • Argyle
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Argyle is located in Pointe Coupee Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argyle
  • Bat
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Bat is located in Saint Landry Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bat
  • Coon
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Coon is located in Pointe Coupee Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coon
  • Elba
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Elba is located in Saint Landry Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elba
  • Elliot City ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Elliot City is located in Pointe Coupee Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elliot City
  • Goodwood
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Goodwood is located in Saint Landry Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodwood
  • Half Moon
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Half Moon is located in Saint Landry Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Half Moon
  • Randall ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Randall is located in Pointe Coupee Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randall
  • Ravenswood
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Ravenswood is located in Pointe Coupee Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenswood

How Far From Second Lake 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 Second Lake 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 Second Lake once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Second Lake and extending to:

  • Opelousas, which is the Seat of Saint Landry Parish, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<2> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Second Lake to Opelousas, 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 6 hours.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 40 miles [64.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,009 miles [1,623.8 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,897 miles [11,099.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,610 miles [12,247.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,486 miles [8,828.9 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 Second Lake, 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Second Lake) 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 Second Lake 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 Second Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.6607, Longitude: -91.7932       In this case, the coordinates for Second Lake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.457 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.13 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.795 degrees.