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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lorena, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lorena 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 Lorena:
    • 32.182928, -89.509513
    • 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 Lorena
  • 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 Smith County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Smith County
    • Since Lorena is near Scott County and also Newton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Scott County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Newton 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 Lorena

Communities Also Named Lorena ...

We found four communities that are also named Lorena.

Within Mississippi, the name Lorena is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Butler County
      • This Lorena is located in Butler County and lies 572 miles [920.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the Lorena that is located in Smith County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of Lorena.
    • Nevada
      • Mineral County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Mineral County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mineral County community of Lorena.
    • South Carolina
      • Lexington County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Lorena [Lexington County].
    • Texas
      • McLennan County
      • This Lorena is located in McLennan County and lies 455 miles [732.3 km]<1> to the west of the Lorena that is located in Smith County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McLennan County community of Lorena.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lorena ...

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.

  • Burns
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Burns is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burns
  • Frogtown
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Frogtown is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frogtown
  • Homewood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Homewood is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homewood
  • Hunter Town
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Hunter Town is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter Town
  • Independence
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Independence is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence
  • Lemon
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Lemon is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lemon
  • Polkville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Polkville is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polkville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 819 people
  • Sand Point
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Sand Point is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Point
  • Stage
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Stage is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stage
  • Sun
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Sun is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun
  • Wicker
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Wicker is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wicker

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

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

  • Raleigh, which is the Seat of Smith County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Lorena to Raleigh, with an average speed<4> 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 40 miles [64.4 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 839 miles [1,350.2 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,728 miles [10,827.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,440 miles [11,973.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,316 miles [8,555.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Lorena) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Lorena, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Lorena 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.
<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 Lorena 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 Lorena. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.1829, Longitude: -89.5095       In this case, the coordinates for Lorena have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.214 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.887 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.642 degrees.