RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Mississippi >> Montgomery County >> Alva >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Alva, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Alva 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 Alva:
    • 33.637898, -89.507298
    • 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 Alva
  • 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 Montgomery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Since Alva is near Webster County and also Grenada County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Webster County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grenada 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 Alva

Communities Also Named Alva ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Alva.

There is one other community in Mississippi that is also named Alva.

Beyond Mississippi, we know of ten communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these ten communities, nine are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Located In Mississippi ...
    • Webster 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 Mississippi community of Alva [Webster County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Lee County
      • This Alva is located in Lee County and lies 670 miles [1,078.3 km]<2> to the southeast of the Alva that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lee County community of Alva.
    • Georgia
      • Jasper 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 Georgia community of Alva [Jasper County].
    • Kansas
      • Cloud County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Cloud County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cloud County community of Alva.
    • Kentucky
      • Harlan County
      • This Alva is located in Harlan County and lies 404 miles [650.2 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Alva that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harlan County community of Alva.
    • Missouri
      • Boone 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 Missouri community of Alva [Boone County].
    • Oklahoma
      • Woods County
      • This Alva is located in Woods County and lies 560 miles [901.2 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Alva that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Woods County community of Alva.
    • Ontario
      • This Alva lies 968 miles [1,557.8 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Alva that is located in Montgomery County.
    • Quebec
      • This Alva lies 1,192 miles [1,918.3 km]<2> to the northeast of the Alva that is located in Montgomery County.
    • Wisconsin
      • Jackson 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 Alva [Jackson County].
    • Wyoming
      • Crook County
      • This Alva is located in Crook County and lies 1,102 miles [1,773.5 km]<2> to the northwest of the Alva that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Crook County community of Alva.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Alva ...

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.

  • Cedar Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedar Hill is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Hill
  • Center
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Center is located in Webster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center
  • Duck Hill
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Duck Hill is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duck Hill
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,760 people
  • Gore Springs
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Lilac
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Lilac is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lilac
  • Minerva
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Minerva is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minerva
  • Slate Spring
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Slate Spring is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slate Spring
  • Slate Springs
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Slate Springs is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slate Springs
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 104 people
  • Sugar Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Sugar Hill is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Hill
  • Susie
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Susie is located in Grenada County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Susie
  • Sweatman
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Sweatman is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweatman

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

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

  • Winona, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Alva to Winona, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 100 miles [160.9 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 782 miles [1,258.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 31 days and walking would take 45 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,657 miles [10,713.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,374 miles [11,867.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,249 miles [8,447.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 Alva 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Alva) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Alva, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Alva 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 Alva. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.6379, Longitude: -89.5073       In this case, the coordinates for Alva have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.337 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.227 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.38 degrees.