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 Thaxton:
34.307102, -89.174529
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.
We found four communities that are also named Thaxton.
Within Mississippi, the name Thaxton is unique.
Beyond Mississippi, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Georgia
Wilkes County
This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Thaxton [Wilkes County].
North Carolina
Ashe 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 North Carolina community of Thaxton [Ashe County].
Tennessee
Warren 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 Tennessee community of Thaxton [Warren County].
Virginia
Bedford County
This Thaxton is located in Bedford County and lies 574 miles [923.8 km]<3> to the east northeast of the Thaxton that is located in Pontotoc County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bedford County community of Thaxton.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Thaxton ...
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.
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 town such as Thaxton to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Thaxton and extending to:
Pontotoc, which is the Seat of Pontotoc County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<3> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Thaxton to Pontotoc, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 149 miles [239.8 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 742 miles [1,194.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 43 days.
The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,610 miles [10,637.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
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).<7>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,204 miles [8,375 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
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 Thaxton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Thaxton 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>
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 from Point A (ie- Thaxton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>
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.
<5>
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 Thaxton 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 Thaxton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.3071, Longitude: -89.1745 In this case, the coordinates for Thaxton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.181 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.136 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.112 degrees.