Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Sykes, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sykes and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Sykes
- 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 Sykes:
- 33.773171, -88.610879
- 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 Sykes
- 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 Monroe County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Monroe County
- Since Sykes is near Clay County and also Chickasaw County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Clay County
- eBird sighting report for Chickasaw 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 Sykes ...
We found six communities that share the name Sykes.
There is one other community in Mississippi which is also named Sykes.
Beyond Mississippi, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Mississippi ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Kansas
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Sykes ...
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.
- Evergreen
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast) - Green Acres
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Acres have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
- Green Acres is located in Monroe County
- Hillcrest
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast) - Piney Grove
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Piney Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Grove
- Piney Grove is located in Monroe County
- Prairie
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest) - Rodgers ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest) - Strong
(5 miles [8 km] to the south) - Tanglewood
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tanglewood have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tanglewood
- Tanglewood is located in Monroe County
- Tucker Place
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tucker Place have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tucker Place
- Tucker Place is located in Monroe County
How Far From Sykes 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 Sykes 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 Sykes once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Sykes and extending to:
- Aberdeen, which is the Seat of Monroe County, lies just to the Northeast.
- Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 136 miles [218.9 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Sykes to Jackson, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 733 miles [1,179.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 42 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,614 miles [10,644.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,329 miles [11,794.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,204 miles [8,375 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Monroe County: www.monroecountyms.org
The official website for State of Mississippi: https://www.ms.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Sykes) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sykes. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.7732, Longitude: -88.6109 In this case, the coordinates for Sykes have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 Sykes, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Sykes 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. |
| <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 Sykes 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 314.794 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.615 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.982 degrees. |