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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Utility, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Utility 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 Utility:
- 31.602376, -91.888825
- 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 Utility
- 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 Catahoula Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Catahoula Parish
- Since Utility is near Concordia Parish and also La Salle Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Concordia Parish
- Open the eBird sighting report for La Salle 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 Utility
Communities Also Named Utility ...
We found one communities that are also named Utility.
Within Louisiana, the name Utility is unique.
Beyond Louisiana, there is another community also named Utility in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Kentucky
- Hancock 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 Kentucky community of Utility [Hancock County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Utility ...
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.
- Archie
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Archie is located in Catahoula Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Archie
- Blade
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
- Blade is located in La Salle Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blade
- Cane
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Cane is located in La Salle Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cane
- Frogmore
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Frogmore is located in Concordia Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frogmore
- Jonesville
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Manifest
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Manifest is located in Catahoula Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manifest
- Security
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Security is located in Catahoula Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Security
- Stacy
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Stacy is located in Concordia Parish
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stacy
- Trinity
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
How Far From Utility 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 Utility to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Utility and extending to:
- Harrisonburg, which is the Seat of Catahoula Parish, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<3> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Utility to Harrisonburg, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 90 miles [144.8 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 975 miles [1,569.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 38 days and walking would take 56 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,854 miles [11,030.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,571 miles [12,184.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,446 miles [8,764.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
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 Utility 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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Utility) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Utility 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 Utility. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.6024, Longitude: -91.8888 In this case, the coordinates for Utility have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.625 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.452 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.701 degrees. |
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