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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McNair, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McNair 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 McNair:
    • 31.765996, -89.687573
    • 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 McNair
  • 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 Covington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Covington County
    • Since McNair is near Simpson County and also Smith County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Simpson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Smith 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 McNair

Communities Also Named McNair ...

We found seven communities that are also named McNair.

There is one other community in Mississippi that is also named McNair.

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

  • Communities Located In Mississippi ...
    • Jefferson County
      • This McNair is located in Jefferson County and lies 80 miles [128.7 km]<1> to the west of the McNair that is located in Covington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of McNair.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Washington County
      • This McNair is located in Washington County and lies 391 miles [629.3 km]<1> to the northwest of the McNair that is located in Covington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of McNair.
    • Minnesota
      • Lake County
      • This McNair is located in Lake County and lies 1,079 miles [1,736.5 km]<1> to the north of the McNair that is located in Covington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lake County community of McNair.
    • New York
      • Livingston 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 New York community of McNair [Livingston County].
    • North Carolina
      • Richmond 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 North Carolina community of McNair [Richmond County].
      • Robeson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of McNair [Robeson County].
    • Texas
      • Harris County
      • This McNair is located in Harris County and lies 344 miles [553.6 km]<1> to the west southwest of the McNair that is located in Covington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harris County community of McNair.

Curious and Interesting Names Near McNair ...

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.

  • Coats
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Coats is located in Simpson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coats
  • Cyclone
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Cyclone is located in Simpson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cyclone
  • Friendship
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Friendship is located in Covington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship
  • Jaynesville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jaynesville is located in Simpson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jaynesville
  • Lone Star
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Lone Star is located in Covington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Star
  • Magee
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Magee is located in Simpson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magee
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,094 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Magee <3>
  • Merry Hell
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Merry Hell is located in Simpson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merry Hell
  • Mount Pleasant
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Covington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Rock Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Rock Hill is located in Covington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Hill
  • Shady Grove
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Shady Grove is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
  • Sunset
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Sunset is located in Covington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset
  • Zion Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Zion Hill is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion Hill

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

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

  • Collins, which is the Seat of Covington County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from McNair to Collins, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 46 miles [74 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 864 miles [1,390.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,756 miles [10,872.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,466 miles [12,015.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,343 miles [8,598.7 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- McNair) 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 McNair 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>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 McNair 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 McNair. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.7660, Longitude: -89.6876       In this case, the coordinates for McNair have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.284 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.911 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.784 degrees.