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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Johns, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Johns 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 Johns:
    • 32.130985, -89.838133
    • 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 Johns
  • 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 Rankin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rankin County
    • Since Johns is near Smith County and also Simpson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Smith County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Simpson 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 Johns

Communities Also Named Johns ...

We found five communities that are also named Johns.

Within Mississippi, the name Johns is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jefferson County
      • This Johns is located in Jefferson County and lies 179 miles [288.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Johns that is located in Rankin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Johns.
    • North Carolina
      • Scotland County
      • This Johns is located in Scotland County and lies 624 miles [1,004.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Johns that is located in Rankin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Scotland County community of Johns.
    • South Carolina
      • Union 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 South Carolina community of Johns [Union County].
    • Virginia
      • Powhatan 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 Virginia community of Johns [Powhatan County].
    • West Virginia
      • Boone County
      • This Johns is located in Boone County and lies 619 miles [996.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Johns that is located in Rankin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boone County community of Johns.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Johns ...

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.

  • Cross Roads
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Cross Roads is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
  • Daniel
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Daniel is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daniel
  • Everett
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Everett is located in Simpson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Everett
  • Fink Bine ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Fink Bine is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fink Bine
  • Gunn
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Gunn is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gunn
  • Joe ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Joe is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joe
  • Polkville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Polkville is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polkville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 819 people
  • Rock Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Rock Hill is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Hill
  • Rufus
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Rufus is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rufus
  • Shady Dell ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Shady Dell is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Dell

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

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

  • Brandon, which is the Seat of Rankin County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Johns to Brandon, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 23 miles [37 km] to the west northwest (WNW). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 856 miles [1,377.6 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,744 miles [10,853.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,457 miles [12,000.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,332 miles [8,581 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Johns) 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 Johns 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 Johns 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 Johns. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.1310, Longitude: -89.8381       In this case, the coordinates for Johns have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.411 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.108 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.784 degrees.