Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Elon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Elon and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Elon
- 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 Elon:
- 33.061238, -88.511708
- 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 Elon
- 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 Elon is near Kemper County and also Pickens County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Kemper County
- eBird sighting report for Pickens 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 Elon ...
We found six communities that share the name Elon.
Within Mississippi, the name Elon is unique.
Beyond Mississippi, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Indiana
- Iowa
- North Carolina
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Elon ...
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.
- Big Lake ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Center Point ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Center Point have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Point
- Center Point is located in Noxubee County
- Clearman
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest) - Cooksville
(10 miles [16.1 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.<5>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooksville
- Cooksville is located in Noxubee County
- Cross Roads ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cross Roads have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
- Cross Roads is located in Noxubee County
- Foxtrap ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east) - Paulette
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast) - Prairie Point
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prairie Point have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Point
- Prairie Point is located in Noxubee County
- X-Prairie
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
How Far From Elon 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 Elon 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 community of Elon once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Elon and extending to:
- Macon, which is the Seat of Noxubee County, lies just to the Northwest.
- Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 110 miles [177 km]<1> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from Elon to Jackson, with an average speed<6>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 756 miles [1,216.7 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 6,644 miles [10,692.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,356 miles [11,838.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,232 miles [8,420.1 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Elon) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Elon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.0612, Longitude: -88.5117 In this case, the coordinates for Elon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 Elon, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 Elon 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. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <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 Elon 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 314.68 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.386 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.079 degrees. |