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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lanham, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lanham 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 Lanham:
    • 31.583222, -89.097002
    • 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 Lanham
  • 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 Jones County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jones County
    • Since Lanham is near Forrest County and also Wayne County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Forrest County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wayne 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 Lanham

Communities Also Named Lanham ...

We found six communities that are also named Lanham.

Within Mississippi, the name Lanham is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Washington County
      • This Lanham is located in Washington County and lies 725 miles [1,166.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Lanham that is located in Jones County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Lanham.
    • Kentucky
      • Boyd 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 Kentucky community of Lanham [Boyd County].
    • Maryland
      • Prince George's County
      • This Lanham is located in Prince George's County and lies 856 miles [1,377.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Lanham that is located in Jones County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Prince George's County community of Lanham.
    • Nebraska
      • Gage County
      • This Lanham is located in Gage County and lies 725 miles [1,166.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Lanham that is located in Jones County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gage County community of Lanham.
    • Texas
      • Hamilton County
      • This Lanham is located in Hamilton County and lies 520 miles [836.9 km]<1> to the west of the Lanham that is located in Jones County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Lanham.
    • West Virginia
      • Putnam County
      • This Lanham is located in Putnam County and lies 631 miles [1,015.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the Lanham that is located in Jones County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Putnam County community of Lanham.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lanham ...

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.

  • Jenkins
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jenkins is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins
  • Monarch
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Monarch is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monarch
  • Oak Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Oak Grove is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Pecan Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Pecan Grove is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pecan Grove
  • Pleasant Ridge
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Pleasant Ridge is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
  • Powers
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Powers is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powers
  • Queensburg
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Queensburg is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queensburg
  • Tuckers Crossing
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Tuckers Crossing is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuckers Crossing
  • Union
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Union is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union

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

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

  • Laurel, which is the Seat of Jones County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 80 miles [128.7 km]<1> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Lanham to Jackson, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 845 miles [1,359.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 48 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,740 miles [10,847 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,448 miles [11,986.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,325 miles [8,569.8 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Lanham) 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 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 Lanham 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 Lanham 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 Lanham. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.5832, Longitude: -89.0970       In this case, the coordinates for Lanham have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.908 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.45 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.581 degrees.