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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gin, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gin 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 Gin:
    • 31.915709, -88.630593
    • 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 Gin
  • 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 Clarke County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clarke County
    • Since Gin is near Wayne County and also Choctaw County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wayne County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Choctaw 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 Gin

Communities Also Named Gin ...

We found three communities that are also named Gin.

Within Mississippi, the name Gin is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Bradley County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Gin [Bradley County].
      • Cleburne 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 Arkansas community of Gin [Cleburne County].
    • West Virginia
      • Logan 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 West Virginia community of Gin [Logan County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gin ...

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.

  • Brewer
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Brewer is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brewer
  • Chancellor
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Chancellor is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chancellor
  • Creek ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Creek is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creek
  • De Soto
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • De Soto is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Soto
  • Evans Ferry
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Evans Ferry is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evans Ferry
  • Harmony
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Harmony is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
  • Horn
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Horn is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horn
  • Junction City
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Junction City is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Junction City
  • Melvin
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Melvin is located in Choctaw County (AL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melvin
  • Pierces Springs ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Pierces Springs is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierces Springs
  • Quitman
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Threadville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Threadville is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Threadville

How Far From Gin 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 Gin 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 Gin once stood, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Gin and extending to:

  • Quitman, which is the Seat of Clarke County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<4> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Gin to Quitman, with an average speed<5> 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 94 miles [151.3 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 810 miles [1,303.6 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 46 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,705 miles [10,790.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,413 miles [11,930.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,289 miles [8,511.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Gin, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Gin 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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- Gin) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<5>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.
<6>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 Gin 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 Gin. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.9157, Longitude: -88.6306       In this case, the coordinates for Gin have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.657 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.203 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.339 degrees.