Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Big Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Big Lake and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Big Lake
- 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 Big Lake:
- 33.049293, -88.393092
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Big 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 county-by-county basis. We have selected Noxubee County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Noxubee County
- Since Big Lake is near Pickens County and also Sumter County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Pickens County
- eBird sighting report for Sumter 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Big Lake ...
We found nine communities that share the name Big Lake.
Within Mississippi, the name Big Lake is unique.
Beyond Mississippi, we know of another nine communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these nine communities, seven are located in the United States and two are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alaska
- This Big Lake lies 3,312 miles [5,330.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Big Lake that is located in Noxubee County.
- Arkansas
- Indiana
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Nova Scotia
- Ontario
- This Big Lake lies 938 miles [1,509.6 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Big Lake that is located in Noxubee County.
- Texas
- Washington
- Alaska
Curious and Interesting Names Near Big 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.
- Center Point ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Center Point have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Point
- Center Point is located in Noxubee County
- Clark
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Cooksville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cooksville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooksville
- Cooksville is located in Noxubee County
- Cross Roads ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cross Roads have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
- Cross Roads is located in Noxubee County
- Dancy
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast) - Foxtrap ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast) - Paulette
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest) - Prairie Point
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prairie Point have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Point
- Prairie Point is located in Noxubee County
- X-Prairie
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
How Far From Big Lake 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 Big 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<5> community of Big Lake once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Big Lake and extending to:
- Macon, which is the Seat of Noxubee County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Big Lake to Macon, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 115 miles [185.1 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 751 miles [1,208.6 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,640 miles [10,686 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,351 miles [11,830.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,227 miles [8,412 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Mississippi: https://www.ms.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Big Lake) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Big Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.0493, Longitude: -88.3931 In this case, the coordinates for Big Lake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Big Lake 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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <5> | 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 Big Lake, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Big Lake to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.606 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.30 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.033 degrees. |