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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lightsey, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lightsey 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 Lightsey:
    • 31.735716, -88.935884
    • 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 Lightsey
  • 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 Wayne County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wayne County
    • Since Lightsey is near Jones County and also Jasper County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jones County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jasper 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 Lightsey

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lightsey ...

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.

  • Goodwater
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Goodwater is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodwater
  • Hawkes
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Hawkes is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawkes
  • Pleasant Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Powers
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Powers is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powers
  • Queensburg
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Queensburg is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queensburg
  • Sandersville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Sandersville is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandersville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 721 people
  • Shady Grove
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Shady Grove is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
  • Tuckers Crossing
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Tuckers Crossing is located in Jones County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuckers Crossing
  • Whistler
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Whistler is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whistler

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Lightsey and extending to:

  • Waynesboro, which is the Seat of Wayne County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Lightsey to Waynesboro, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 82 miles [132 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 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 831 miles [1,337.4 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<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,726 miles [10,824.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,434 miles [11,963.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,311 miles [8,547.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Lightsey) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Lightsey 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 Lightsey. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.7357, Longitude: -88.9359       In this case, the coordinates for Lightsey have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.825 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.374 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.491 degrees.