RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Missouri >> Douglas County >> Larissa >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Larissa, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Larissa 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 Larissa:
    • 36.932000, -92.576555
    • 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 Larissa
  • 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 county-by-county basis. We have selected Douglas County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Douglas County
    • Since Larissa is near Ozark County and also Wright County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ozark County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wright 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 Larissa

Communities Also Named Larissa ...

We found three communities that are also named Larissa.

Within Missouri, the name Larissa is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Winston County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Winston County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Winston County community of Larissa.
    • Nebraska
      • Scotts Bluff County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nebraska community of Larissa [Scotts Bluff County].
    • Texas
      • Cherokee County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Larissa [Cherokee County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Larissa ...

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.

  • Brushyknob
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Brushyknob is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brushyknob
  • Champion
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Champion is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Champion
  • Coldspring
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Coldspring is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coldspring
  • Evans
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Evans is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evans
  • Filer
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Filer is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Filer
  • Foil
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Foil is located in Ozark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foil
  • Goodhope
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Goodhope is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodhope
  • Granada
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Granada is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granada
  • Noble
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Noble is located in Ozark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noble
  • Red Bank
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Red Bank is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bank
  • Squires
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Squires is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Squires
  • Sweden
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Sweden is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweden

How Far From Larissa to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Larissa to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Larissa and extending to:

  • Ava, which is the Seat of Douglas County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 115 miles [185.1 km]<3> to the north (N). If you could drive a straight line from Larissa to Jefferson City, with an average speed<4>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 856 miles [1,377.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,611 miles [10,639.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,346 miles [11,822.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,227 miles [8,412 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Larissa, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Larissa 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 county. 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>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 from Point A (ie- Larissa) 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 Larissa 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 Larissa. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.9320, Longitude: -92.5766       In this case, the coordinates for Larissa have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.546 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.229 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.114 degrees.