RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Mississippi >> Hinds County >> Van Winkle >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Van Winkle, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Van Winkle 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 Van Winkle:
    • 32.298757, -90.263701
    • 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 Van Winkle
  • 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 Hinds County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hinds County
    • Since Van Winkle is near Rankin County and also Madison County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rankin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison 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 Van Winkle

Communities Also Named Van Winkle ...

We found two communities that are also named Van Winkle.

Within Mississippi, the name Van Winkle is unique.

Beyond Mississippi, we know of two communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these two communities, one is located in the United States and the other in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • British Columbia
      • This Van Winkle lies 2,114 miles [3,402.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Van Winkle that is located in Hinds County.
    • Michigan
      • Delta 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 Michigan community of Van Winkle [Delta County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Van Winkle ...

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.

  • Cherry Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cherry Park is located in Hinds County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Park
  • Choctaw Village
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Choctaw Village is located in Hinds County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Choctaw Village
  • Forest Green
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Forest Green is located in Hinds County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Green
  • Garden Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Garden Park is located in Hinds County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Park
  • Green Acres
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Green Acres is located in Hinds County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Kentwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Kentwood is located in Hinds County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kentwood
  • Lost Lake
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Lost Lake is located in Hinds County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost Lake
  • Meadow Oaks
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Meadow Oaks is located in Hinds County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Oaks
  • Meadowhill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Meadowhill is located in Hinds County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowhill
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Oak Creek
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Oak Creek is located in Hinds County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Creek
    • Presidential Hills
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Presidential Hills is located in Hinds County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Presidential Hills
    • Queens Lane
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Queens Lane is located in Hinds County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queens Lane
    • Sunkist
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Sunkist is located in Hinds County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunkist
    • Trailwood
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Trailwood is located in Hinds County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trailwood
    • Willowood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Willowood is located in Hinds County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willowood

How Far From Van Winkle to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Van Winkle to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Jackson, which is the Seat of Hinds County, lies just to the East.
  • Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies just to the east (E).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 869 miles [1,398.5 km]<1> to the northeast (NE). If you could drive a straight line from Van Winkle to White House, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 50 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 34 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,753 miles [10,867.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,468 miles [12,018.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,343 miles [8,598.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Van Winkle) 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 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 Van Winkle 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 Van Winkle 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 Van Winkle. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.2988, Longitude: -90.2637       In this case, the coordinates for Van Winkle have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.688 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.454 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.928 degrees.