Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Christmas, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Christmas and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Christmas
- 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 Christmas:
- 33.777691, -90.980563
- 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 Christmas
- 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 Bolivar County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Bolivar County
- Since Christmas is near Desha County and also Arkansas County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Desha County
- eBird sighting report for Arkansas 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 Christmas ...
We found four communities that share the name Christmas.
Within Mississippi, the name Christmas is unique.
Beyond Mississippi, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arizona
- Florida
- Kentucky
- Michigan
Curious and Interesting Names Near Christmas ...
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.
- Catfish Point Landing
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Catfish Point Landing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catfish Point Landing
- Catfish Point Landing is located in Bolivar County
- Gill
(Less than 2 miles to the north) - Grapeland
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south) - Home Landing
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Home Landing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Home Landing
- Home Landing is located in Bolivar County
- Lake Vista
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Vista have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Vista
- Lake Vista is located in Bolivar County
- Longshot
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longshot
- Longshot is located in Bolivar County
- Mound City
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mound City
- Mound City is located in Bolivar County
- Napoleon ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the west) - Rosedale
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosedale
- Rosedale is located in Bolivar County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,559 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rosedale <5>
How Far From Christmas 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 Christmas to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Christmas and extending to:
- Cleveland, which is the Seat of Bolivar County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Christmas to Cleveland, with an average speed<6> 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 111 miles [178.6 km] to the south southeast (SSE). 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 851 miles [1,369.6 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<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,709 miles [10,797.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,430 miles [11,957.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,306 miles [8,539.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Christmas. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Bolivar County: www.co.bolivar.ms.us/
The official website for State of Mississippi: https://www.ms.gov/
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 Christmas, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Christmas) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Christmas. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.7777, Longitude: -90.9806 |
| <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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Christmas 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 316.271 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.329 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.976 degrees. |