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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Nola, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Nola 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 Nola:
    • 31.614436, -90.238134
    • 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 Nola
  • 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 Lawrence County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence County
    • Since Nola is near Lincoln County and also Copiah County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lincoln County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Copiah 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 Nola

Communities Also Named Nola ...

We found three communities that are also named Nola.

Within Mississippi, the name Nola is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Scott County
      • This Nola is located in Scott County and lies 302 miles [486 km]<1> to the northwest of the Nola that is located in Lawrence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Scott County community of Nola.
    • Georgia
      • Cook County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Nola [Cook County].
    • Virginia
      • Franklin 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 Virginia community of Nola [Franklin County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Nola ...

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.

  • Fair River
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Fair River is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair River
  • Friendship
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Friendship is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship
  • Hardscrabble ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Hardscrabble is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardscrabble
  • Harmony
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Harmony is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
  • Hooker
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • New Sight
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Pearlhaven
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Pearlhaven is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearlhaven
  • Pines Ferry
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Pines Ferry is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pines Ferry
  • Sand Hill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Sand Hill is located in Copiah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Hill
  • Stronghope
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Stronghope is located in Copiah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stronghope

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

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

  • Monticello, which is the Seat of Lawrence County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 47 miles [75.6 km]<1> to the north (N). If you could walk a straight line from Nola to Jackson, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 896 miles [1,442 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two days, a buggy would take 35 days and walking would take 51 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,786 miles [10,921 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,498 miles [12,066.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,374 miles [8,648.6 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Nola) 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 Nola, 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 Nola 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 Nola 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 Nola. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.6144, Longitude: -90.2381    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.605 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.265 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.03 degrees.