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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Shankstown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shankstown and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Shankstown:
    • 31.814606, -91.029272
    • 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 Shankstown
  • 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Shankstown is near Claiborne County and also Tensas Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Claiborne County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tensas Parish
  • 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 Shankstown

Curious and Interesting Names Near Shankstown ...

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.

  • Allen
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Allen is located in Claiborne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allen
  • Cadillac
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Cadillac is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cadillac
  • Dennis Crossroads
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Dennis Crossroads is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dennis Crossroads
  • Gordon
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Gordon is located in Claiborne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon
  • Green Meadow
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Green Meadow is located in Claiborne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Meadow
  • Gum Ridge ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Gum Ridge is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gum Ridge
  • Red Lick
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Red Lick is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Lick
  • Uniontown ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Uniontown is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Uniontown
  • Violet
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Violet is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Violet

How Far From Shankstown 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 Shankstown 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<1> community of Shankstown once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Shankstown and extending to:

  • Fayette, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 60 miles [96.6 km]<2> to the northeast (NE). If you could walk a straight line from Shankstown to Jackson, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 925 miles [1,488.6 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 37 days and walking would take 53 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,808 miles [10,956.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,523 miles [12,107.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,399 miles [8,688.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Shankstown, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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- Shankstown) 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 Shankstown 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 Shankstown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.8146, Longitude: -91.0293       In this case, the coordinates for Shankstown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.113 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.884 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.318 degrees.