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

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.

  • 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.
    • Open 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:
    • Open the 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:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kemper County
    • Open the 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:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Elon

Communities Also Named Elon ...

We found six communities that are also named Elon.

Within Mississippi, the name Elon is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Madison County
      • This Elon is located in Madison County and lies 155 miles [249.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the Elon that is located in Noxubee County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Elon.
    • Arkansas
      • Ashley County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Elon [Ashley County].
    • Indiana
      • Orange County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Indiana community of Elon [Orange County].
    • Iowa
      • Allamakee County
      • This Elon is located in Allamakee County and lies 720 miles [1,158.7 km]<1> to the north of the Elon that is located in Noxubee County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allamakee County community of Elon.
    • North Carolina
      • Alamance County
      • This Elon is located in Alamance County and lies 552 miles [888.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Elon that is located in Noxubee County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Alamance County community of Elon.
    • Virginia
      • Amherst County
      • This Elon is located in Amherst County and lies 608 miles [978.5 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Elon that is located in Noxubee County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Amherst County community of Elon.

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)
    • Big Lake is located in Noxubee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Lake
  • Center Point ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Center Point is located in Noxubee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Point
  • Clearman
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Clearman is located in Noxubee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearman
  • Cooksville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Cooksville is located in Noxubee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooksville
  • Cross Roads ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Cross Roads is located in Noxubee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
  • Foxtrap ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Foxtrap is located in Noxubee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxtrap
  • Paulette
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Paulette is located in Noxubee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paulette
  • Prairie Point
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Prairie Point is located in Noxubee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Point
  • X-Prairie
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • X-Prairie is located in Noxubee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for X-Prairie

How Far From Elon to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories 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<4>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<5> 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).<6>
  • 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).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,232 miles [8,420.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 from Point A (ie- Elon) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 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 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>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 Elon 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 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).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.68 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.386 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.079 degrees.