RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Mississippi >> Lowndes County >> Border Springs >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Border Springs, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Border 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 Border Springs:
    • 33.662614, -88.268368
    • 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 Border 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 county-by-county basis. We have selected Lowndes County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lowndes County
    • Since Border Springs is near Lamar County and also Monroe County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lamar County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe 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 Border Springs

Curious and Interesting Names Near Border 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.

  • Buttahatchie ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Buttahatchie is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buttahatchie
  • Fernbank
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Fernbank is located in Lamar County (AL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fernbank
  • Flint Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Flint Hill is located in Lowndes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint Hill
  • Forest
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Forest is located in Pickens County (AL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest
  • Fox Run
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Fox Run is located in Lowndes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Run
  • Gallagher Ferry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Gallagher Ferry is located in Lowndes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gallagher Ferry
  • Grubb Springs ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Grubb Springs is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grubb Springs
  • Mormon Springs
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Mormon Springs is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mormon Springs
  • Star
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Star is located in Lamar County (AL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Star
  • Temperence Hill ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Temperence Hill is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temperence Hill
  • Woodlawn
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Woodlawn is located in Lowndes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn

How Far From Border 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 Border Springs 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<1> community of Border Springs once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Border Springs and extending to:

  • Columbus, which is the Seat of Lowndes County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Border Springs to Columbus, with an average speed<3> 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 four to five hours.
  • Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 145 miles [233.4 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 721 miles [1,160.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,605 miles [10,629.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,319 miles [11,778.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,194 miles [8,358.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Border Springs, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 from Point A (ie- Border Springs) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Border 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 Border Springs. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.6626, Longitude: -88.2684       In this case, the coordinates for Border Springs have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.576 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.347 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.862 degrees.