RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Mississippi >> Jackson County >> Fort Bayou >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Fort Bayou, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fort Bayou and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Fort Bayou:
    • 30.447421, -88.718080
    • 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 Fort Bayou
  • 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 Jackson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Since Fort Bayou is near Harrison County and also Mobile County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harrison County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mobile 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 Fort Bayou

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fort Bayou ...

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.

  • Elders Ferry
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Elders Ferry is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elders Ferry
  • Evergreen
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Evergreen is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
  • Ford
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Ford is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ford
  • Graham Ferry
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Graham Ferry is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham Ferry
  • Gulf Hills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Gulf Hills is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf Hills
  • Hickory Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Hickory Hills is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Hills
  • Martin Bluff
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Martin Bluff is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin Bluff
  • Ocean Springs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Randall Ferry
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Randall Ferry is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randall Ferry
  • Sawmill Pointe
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Sawmill Pointe is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawmill Pointe

How Far From Fort Bayou to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Fort Bayou 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<2> community of Fort Bayou once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Fort Bayou and extending to:

  • Pascagoula, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<3> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Fort Bayou to Pascagoula, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 154 miles [247.8 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 882 miles [1,419.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 35 days and walking would take 51 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,779 miles [10,909.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,482 miles [12,041.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,360 miles [8,626.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Fort Bayou, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Fort Bayou) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Fort Bayou 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 Fort Bayou. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.4474, Longitude: -88.7181       In this case, the coordinates for Fort Bayou have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.569 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.902 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.624 degrees.