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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mesa, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mesa 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 Mesa:
    • 31.147400, -90.200368
    • 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 Mesa
  • 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 Walthall County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Walthall County
    • Since Mesa is near Pike County and also Washington Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pike County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington Parish
  • 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 Mesa

Communities Also Named Mesa ...

We found fourteen communities that are also named Mesa.

Within Mississippi, the name Mesa is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Maricopa County
      • This Mesa is located in Maricopa County and lies 1,269 miles [2,042.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Mesa that is located in Walthall County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Maricopa County community of Mesa.
    • Arkansas
      • Prairie County
      • This Mesa is located in Prairie County and lies 261 miles [420 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Mesa that is located in Walthall County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Prairie County community of Mesa.
    • California
      • Inyo County
      • This Mesa is located in Inyo County and lies 1,667 miles [2,682.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Mesa that is located in Walthall County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Inyo County community of Mesa.
      • San Bernardino County
      • This Mesa is located in San Bernardino County and lies 1,582 miles [2,546 km] to the west northwest of the Mesa that is located in Walthall County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Bernardino County community of Mesa.
    • Colorado
      • Adams 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 Colorado community of Mesa [Adams County].
      • El Paso 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 Colorado community of Mesa [El Paso County].
      • Mesa County
      • This Mesa is located in Mesa County and lies 1,151 miles [1,852.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Mesa that is located in Walthall County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mesa County community of Mesa.
      • Pueblo 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 Colorado community of Mesa [Pueblo County].
    • Idaho
      • Adams County
      • This Mesa is located in Adams County and lies 1,694 miles [2,726.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Mesa that is located in Walthall County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Adams County community of Mesa.
    • New Mexico
      • Chaves County
      • This Mesa is located in Chaves County and lies 864 miles [1,390.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Mesa that is located in Walthall County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chaves County community of Mesa.
      • Roosevelt County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Roosevelt County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roosevelt County community of Mesa.
    • Texas
      • El Paso County
      • Although located in El Paso County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the El Paso County community of Mesa.
      • Randall 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 Texas community of Mesa [Randall County].
    • Washington
      • Franklin County
      • This Mesa is located in Franklin County and lies 1,863 miles [2,998.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Mesa that is located in Walthall County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Mesa.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mesa ...

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.

  • Bridges
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Bridges is located in Walthall County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridges
  • China Grove
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • China Grove is located in Walthall County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for China Grove
  • Emerald
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Emerald is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emerald
  • Flowers
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Flowers is located in Walthall County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flowers
  • Jennings
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Jennings is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jennings
  • Martin
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Martin is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin
  • Pricedale
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Pricedale is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pricedale
  • Progress
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Progress is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Progress
  • Rushing
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Rushing is located in Walthall County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rushing

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

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

  • Tylertown, which is the Seat of Walthall County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 79 miles [127.1 km]<1> to the north (N). If you could drive a straight line from Mesa to Jackson, with an average speed<4>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 915 miles [1,472.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 52 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,807 miles [10,954.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,517 miles [12,097.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,394 miles [8,680.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Mesa) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Mesa 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>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 Mesa, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Mesa 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 Mesa. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.1474, Longitude: -90.2004       In this case, the coordinates for Mesa have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.533 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.119 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.089 degrees.