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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ratliff, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ratliff 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 Ratliff:
    • 32.570972, -89.798411
    • 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 Ratliff
  • 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:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rankin County
    • Since Ratliff is near Madison County and also Scott County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison County
    • Open the 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:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Ratliff

Communities Also Named Ratliff ...

We found six communities that are also named Ratliff.

There is one other community in Mississippi that is also named Ratliff.

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

  • Communities Located In Mississippi ...
    • Itawamba County
      • This Ratliff is located in Itawamba County and lies 145 miles [233.4 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Ratliff that is located in Rankin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Itawamba County community of Ratliff.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Nassau County
      • This Ratliff is located in Nassau County and lies 491 miles [790.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Ratliff that is located in Rankin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nassau County community of Ratliff.
    • Kentucky
      • Menifee County
      • This Ratliff is located in Menifee County and lies 512 miles [824 km]<1> to the northeast of the Ratliff that is located in Rankin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Menifee County community of Ratliff.
      • Pike County
      • This Ratliff is located in Pike County and lies 531 miles [854.6 km] to the northeast of the Ratliff that is located in Rankin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pike County community of Ratliff.
    • Louisiana
      • Assumption Parish
      • This Ratliff is located in Assumption Parish and lies 195 miles [313.8 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Ratliff that is located in Rankin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Assumption Parish community of Ratliff.
    • Virginia
      • Tazewell 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 Virginia community of Ratliff [Tazewell County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ratliff ...

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)
    • Branch is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Branch
  • Eureka
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Eureka is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
  • Farmhaven
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Farmhaven is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmhaven
  • Forty ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Forty is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forty
  • Good Hope
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Good Hope is located in Leake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Hope
  • Havendale
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Havendale is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havendale
  • Leesburg
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Leesburg is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leesburg
  • Meeks Ferry
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Meeks Ferry is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meeks Ferry
  • Raytown
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Raytown is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raytown
  • Sand Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Sand Hill is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Hill

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

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

  • Brandon, which is the Seat of Rankin County, lies 23 miles [37 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Ratliff to Brandon, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days 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 28 miles [45.1 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 836 miles [1,345.4 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,721 miles [10,816.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,435 miles [11,965.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,310 miles [8,545.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 from Point A (ie- Ratliff) 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 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 Ratliff 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>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 Ratliff 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 Ratliff. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.5710, Longitude: -89.7984       In this case, the coordinates for Ratliff have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.427 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.187 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.692 degrees.