Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ophelia, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ophelia and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Ophelia
- 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 Ophelia:
- 32.559028, -89.816745
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Ophelia
- 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 Rankin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Rankin County
- Since Ophelia is near Madison County and also Scott County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Madison County
- eBird sighting report for Scott 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Ophelia ...
We found three communities that share the name Ophelia.
There is one other community in Mississippi which is also named Ophelia.
Beyond Mississippi, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Mississippi ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Virginia
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ophelia ...
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.
- Branch
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Branch
- Branch is located in Scott County
- Eureka
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast) - Farmhaven
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north) - Forkville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast) - Forty ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast) - Good Hope
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast) - Havendale
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north) - Leesburg
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south) - Meeks Ferry
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meeks Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meeks Ferry
- Meeks Ferry is located in Madison County
- Raytown
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north) - Sand Hill
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Hill
- Sand Hill is located in Rankin County
How Far From Ophelia to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Ophelia to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Ophelia once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Ophelia and extending to:
- Brandon, which is the Seat of Rankin County, lies 22 miles [35.4 km]<2> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Ophelia to Brandon, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
- Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest (SW). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 838 miles [1,348.6 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 48 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,722 miles [10,818 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,436 miles [11,967.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,312 miles [8,548.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Rankin County: www.rankincounty.org/
The official website for State of Mississippi: https://www.ms.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Ophelia 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. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ophelia) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ophelia. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.5590, Longitude: -89.8167 In this case, the coordinates for Ophelia have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Ophelia, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Ophelia to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.437 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.197 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.702 degrees. |