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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rufus, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rufus 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 Rufus:
    • 32.178206, -89.780631
    • 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 Rufus
  • 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 Rufus is near Smith County and also Scott County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Smith 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 Rufus

Communities Also Named Rufus ...

We found eight communities that are also named Rufus.

Within Mississippi, the name Rufus is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Jackson 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 Arkansas community of Rufus [Jackson County].
    • Georgia
      • Bulloch 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 Rufus [Bulloch County].
    • Kentucky
      • Caldwell County
      • This Rufus is located in Caldwell County and lies 365 miles [587.4 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Rufus that is located in Rankin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Caldwell County community of Rufus.
    • Missouri
      • Dent County
      • Although located in Dent County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dent County community of Rufus.
    • North Carolina
      • Caldwell County
      • This Rufus is located in Caldwell County and lies 534 miles [859.4 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Rufus that is located in Rankin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Caldwell County community of Rufus.
    • Oregon
      • Sherman County
      • This Rufus is located in Sherman County and lies 1,889 miles [3,040.1 km]<2> to the northwest of the Rufus that is located in Rankin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sherman County community of Rufus.
    • Texas
      • Eastland 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 Texas community of Rufus [Eastland County].
    • Wisconsin
      • Ashland 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 Wisconsin community of Rufus [Ashland County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rufus ...

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.

  • Cross Roads
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Cross Roads is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Roads
  • Daniel
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Daniel is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daniel
  • Fink Bine ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Fink Bine is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fink Bine
  • Gunn
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Gunn is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gunn
  • Joe ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Joe is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joe
  • Johns
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Johns is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johns
  • Kracker Station
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Kracker Station is located in Scott County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kracker Station
  • Polkville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Polkville is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polkville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 819 people
  • Rock Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Rock Hill is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Hill
  • Shady Dell ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Shady Dell is located in Rankin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Dell

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

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

  • Brandon, which is the Seat of Rankin County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Rufus to Brandon, 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 24 miles [38.6 km] to the west northwest (WNW). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 851 miles [1,369.6 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 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,739 miles [10,845.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,452 miles [11,992.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,328 miles [8,574.6 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 Rufus 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Rufus) 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 Rufus 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 Rufus. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.1782, Longitude: -89.7806       In this case, the coordinates for Rufus have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.38 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.079 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.752 degrees.