RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Louisiana >> De Soto Parish >> Wood Springs >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Wood Springs, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wood Springs 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 Wood Springs:
    • 32.064608, -93.904909
    • 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 Wood Springs
  • 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 De Soto Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for De Soto Parish
    • Since Wood Springs is near Panola County and also Shelby County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Panola County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby 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 Wood Springs

Communities Also Named Wood Springs ...

We found three communities that are also named Wood Springs.

Within Louisiana, the name Wood Springs is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Apache County
      • This Wood Springs is located in Apache County and lies 926 miles [1,490.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Wood Springs that is located in De Soto Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Apache County community of Wood Springs.
    • Mississippi
      • Choctaw County
      • This Wood Springs is located in Choctaw County and lies 280 miles [450.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Wood Springs that is located in De Soto Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Choctaw County community of Wood Springs.
    • Texas
      • Smith County
      • This Wood Springs is located in Smith County and lies 92 miles [148.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Wood Springs that is located in De Soto Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Smith County community of Wood Springs.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Wood Springs ...

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.

  • Bayou Pierre
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Bayou Pierre is located in De Soto Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayou Pierre
  • Coker
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Coker is located in De Soto Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coker
  • Cook ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Cook is located in De Soto Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cook
  • Fellowship
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Fellowship is located in Shelby County (TX)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fellowship
  • Four Forks
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Four Forks is located in Caddo Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Forks
  • Grand Cane
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Holly
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Holly is located in De Soto Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly
  • Hunter
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Hunter is located in De Soto Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter
  • Kickapoo
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Kickapoo is located in De Soto Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kickapoo
  • Longstreet
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Meadow Park
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Meadow Park is located in De Soto Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Park
  • Porter Place
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Porter Place is located in De Soto Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porter Place
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Screamerville ‑ Historic
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Screamerville is located in De Soto Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Screamerville
    • Spider ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Spider is located in De Soto Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spider
    • Stanley
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Stanley is located in De Soto Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanley
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 116 people
    • Wildwood
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Wildwood is located in De Soto Parish
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood

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

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

  • Mansfield, which is the Seat of De Soto Parish, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Wood Springs to Mansfield, with an average speed<3> 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 196 miles [315.4 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,057 miles [1,701.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 42 days and walking would take 60 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,911 miles [11,122.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,635 miles [12,287.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,510 miles [8,867.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Wood Springs) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Wood Springs 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 Wood Springs. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.0646, Longitude: -93.9049       In this case, the coordinates for Wood Springs have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.957 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.069 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.481 degrees.