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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Penns, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Penns 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 Penns:
    • 33.352345, -88.635881
    • 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 Penns
  • 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 Lowndes County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lowndes County
    • Since Penns is near Noxubee County and also Oktibbeha County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Noxubee County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Oktibbeha 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 Penns

Communities Also Named Penns ...

We found one communities that are also named Penns.

Within Mississippi, the name Penns is unique.

Beyond Mississippi, there is another community also named Penns in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Greene County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Penns [Greene County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Penns ...

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.

  • Blackjack
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Blackjack is located in Oktibbeha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackjack
  • Cedar Creek ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Cedar Creek is located in Lowndes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Creek
  • Deerbrook
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Deerbrook is located in Noxubee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerbrook
  • Dixie ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Dixie is located in Noxubee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixie
  • Fairport ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Fairport is located in Noxubee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairport
  • Heritage Colony
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Heritage Colony is located in Oktibbeha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Colony
  • Hillbrook
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Hillbrook is located in Oktibbeha County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillbrook
  • Jeff Davis ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Jeff Davis is located in Noxubee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jeff Davis
  • Lynn Creek
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Lynn Creek is located in Noxubee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynn Creek
  • Mayhew
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Mayhew is located in Lowndes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayhew
  • Plum Grove
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Plum Grove is located in Lowndes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum Grove
  • Prairie Hill ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Prairie Hill is located in Lowndes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Hill
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Quail Valley
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Quail Valley is located in Oktibbeha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Valley
    • Shavers ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Shavers is located in Noxubee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shavers
    • Timbercove
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Timbercove is located in Oktibbeha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timbercove
    • Trinity
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Trinity is located in Lowndes County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trinity
    • University Heights
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • University Heights is located in Oktibbeha County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Heights

How Far From Penns to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Penns to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Columbus, which is the Seat of Lowndes County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<2> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Penns to Columbus, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 115 miles [185.1 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 750 miles [1,207 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,635 miles [10,678 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,349 miles [11,827.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,224 miles [8,407.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Penns 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Penns) 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 Penns 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 Penns. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.3523, Longitude: -88.6359       In this case, the coordinates for Penns have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.778 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.54 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.074 degrees.