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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Dobson, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dobson 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 Dobson:
    • 32.162650, -89.897301
    • 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 Dobson
  • 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 Rankin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rankin County
    • Since Dobson is near Simpson County and also Smith County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Simpson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Smith 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 Dobson

Communities Also Named Dobson ...

We found five communities that are also named Dobson.

Within Mississippi, the name Dobson is unique.

Beyond Mississippi, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Pima County
      • This Dobson is located in Pima County and lies 1,246 miles [2,005.2 km]<1> to the west of the Dobson that is located in Rankin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pima County community of Dobson.
    • Kansas
      • Johnson 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 Kansas community of Dobson [Johnson County].
    • Kentucky
      • Johnson County
      • This Dobson is located in Johnson County and lies 552 miles [888.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the Dobson that is located in Rankin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Johnson County community of Dobson.
    • North Carolina
      • Surry County
      • This Dobson is located in Surry County and lies 599 miles [964 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Dobson that is located in Rankin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Surry County community of Dobson.
    • South Carolina
      • Spartanburg 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 South Carolina community of Dobson [Spartanburg County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dobson ...

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.

  • Comeby ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Comeby is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comeby
  • Cross Roads
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Cross Roads is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
  • Dane ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Dane is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dane
  • Daniel
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Daniel is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daniel
  • Everett
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Everett is located in Simpson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Everett
  • Fink Bine ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Fink Bine is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fink Bine
  • George ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • George is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for George
  • Greenfield
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Greenfield is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield
  • Joe ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Joe is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joe
  • Johns
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Johns is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johns
  • Piney Woods
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Piney Woods is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Woods
  • Rock Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Rock Hill is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Hill
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Rufus
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Rufus is located in Rankin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rufus
    • Shady Dell ‑ Historic
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Shady Dell is located in Rankin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Dell
    • Star
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Star is located in Rankin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Star
    • Value
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Value is located in Rankin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Value

How Far From Dobson 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 Dobson 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<3> community of Dobson once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Dobson and extending to:

  • Brandon, which is the Seat of Rankin County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Dobson to Brandon, with an average speed<4> 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 19 miles [30.6 km] to the west northwest (WNW). The buggy would take 6 hours and walking would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 858 miles [1,380.8 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two 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 6,745 miles [10,855 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,458 miles [12,002.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,333 miles [8,582.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Dobson) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Dobson 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>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 Dobson, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Dobson 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 Dobson. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.1626, Longitude: -89.8973       In this case, the coordinates for Dobson have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.45 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.158 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.802 degrees.