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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Missala, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Missala 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 Missala:
    • 30.457976, -88.400010
    • 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 Missala
  • 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 Jackson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Since Missala is near Mobile County and also George County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mobile County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for George 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 Missala

Curious and Interesting Names Near Missala ...

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.

  • Cloverdale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Cloverdale is located in Mobile County (AL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
  • Elders Ferry
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Elders Ferry is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elders Ferry
  • Fernland
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Fernland is located in Mobile County (AL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fernland
  • Ford
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Ford is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ford
  • Grand Bay
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Helena
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Helena is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helena
  • Orange Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Orange Grove is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange Grove
  • Pecan
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Pecan is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pecan
  • Pinecrest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Pinecrest is located in Mobile County (AL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinecrest
  • Randall Ferry
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Randall Ferry is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randall Ferry
  • Slaughter Flat Landing
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Union Church
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Union Church is located in Mobile County (AL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Church

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Missala and extending to:

  • Pascagoula, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Missala to Pascagoula, with an average speed<3> 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 165 miles [265.5 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 868 miles [1,396.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 50 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,765 miles [10,887.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,467 miles [12,017 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,346 miles [8,603.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Missala) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Missala 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 Missala. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.4580, Longitude: -88.4000       In this case, the coordinates for Missala have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.381 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.686 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.501 degrees.