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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Donegal, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Donegal 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 Donegal:
    • 31.056009, -91.377057
    • 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 Donegal
  • 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 Wilkinson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wilkinson County
    • Since Donegal is near West Feliciana Parish and also Concordia Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for West Feliciana Parish
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Concordia Parish
  • 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 Donegal

Communities Also Named Donegal ...

We found five communities that are also named Donegal.

Within Mississippi, the name Donegal is unique.

Beyond Mississippi, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, three are located in the United States and three are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Bulloch County
      • This Donegal is located in Bulloch County and lies 575 miles [925.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Donegal that is located in Wilkinson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bulloch County community of Donegal.
    • Kansas
      • Dickinson 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 Donegal [Dickinson County].
    • New Brunswick
      • This Donegal lies 1,724 miles [2,774.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the Donegal that is located in Wilkinson County.
    • Ontario
      • This Donegal lies 1,037 miles [1,668.9 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Donegal that is located in Wilkinson County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Westmoreland County
      • This Donegal is located in Westmoreland County and lies 917 miles [1,475.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Donegal that is located in Wilkinson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Westmoreland County community of Donegal.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Donegal ...

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.

  • Alice
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Alice is located in West Feliciana Parish (LA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alice
  • Brake
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Brake is located in West Feliciana Parish (LA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brake
  • Converse ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Converse is located in West Feliciana Parish (LA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Converse
  • Flower Hill
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Flower Hill is located in West Feliciana Parish (LA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flower Hill
  • Laneheart
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Laneheart is located in Wilkinson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laneheart
  • Mount Pleasant
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Wilkinson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Point Breeze
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Point Breeze is located in Concordia Parish (LA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Breeze
  • Retreat
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Retreat is located in West Feliciana Parish (LA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Retreat
  • Rosebank
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Rosebank is located in West Feliciana Parish (LA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosebank
  • Spillman
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Spillman is located in West Feliciana Parish (LA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spillman
  • Wayside ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Wayside is located in West Feliciana Parish (LA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wayside

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

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

  • Woodville, which is the Seat of Wilkinson County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 111 miles [178.6 km]<1> to the northeast (NE). If you could drive a straight line from Donegal to Jackson, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 973 miles [1,565.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 38 days and walking would take 56 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,860 miles [11,040.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,573 miles [12,187.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,449 miles [8,769.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Donegal) 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 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 Donegal 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>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 Donegal 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 Donegal. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.0560, Longitude: -91.3771       In this case, the coordinates for Donegal have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.246 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.936 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.572 degrees.