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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Vassar, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vassar 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 Vassar:
    • 33.837057, -88.425041
    • 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 Vassar
  • 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:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe County
    • Since Vassar is near Lowndes County and also Lamar County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lowndes County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lamar 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 Vassar

Communities Also Named Vassar ...

We found five communities that are also named Vassar.

Within Mississippi, the name Vassar is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Latah County
      • This Vassar is located in Latah County and lies 1,719 miles [2,766.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the Vassar that is located in Monroe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Latah County community of Vassar.
    • Kansas
      • Osage County
      • This Vassar is located in Osage County and lies 520 miles [836.9 km]<1> to the northwest of the Vassar that is located in Monroe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Osage County community of Vassar.
    • Manitoba
      • This Vassar lies 1,120 miles [1,802.5 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Vassar that is located in Monroe County.
    • Michigan
      • Tuscola County
      • This Vassar is located in Tuscola County and lies 707 miles [1,137.8 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Vassar that is located in Monroe County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tuscola County community of Vassar.
    • Washington
      • Adams 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 Washington community of Vassar [Adams County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vassar ...

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.

  • Buttahatchie ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Buttahatchie is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buttahatchie
  • Evergreen
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Evergreen is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
  • Green Acres
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Green Acres is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Grubb Springs ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Grubb Springs is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grubb Springs
  • Hillcrest
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Hillcrest is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
  • Mormon Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Mormon Springs is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mormon Springs
  • Piney Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Piney Grove is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Grove
  • Tanglewood
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Tanglewood is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tanglewood
  • Temperence Hill ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Temperence Hill is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temperence Hill
  • Tucker Place
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Tucker Place is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tucker Place
  • Wise Gap
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Wise Gap is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wise Gap

How Far From Vassar 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 Vassar 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<3> community of Vassar once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Vassar and extending to:

  • Aberdeen, which is the Seat of Monroe County, lies just to the West.
  • Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 146 miles [235 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Vassar to Jackson, with an average speed<4>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 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 722 miles [1,161.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,603 miles [10,626.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,318 miles [11,777.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,193 miles [8,357.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Vassar) 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 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 Vassar 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>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 Vassar, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Vassar 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 Vassar. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.8371, Longitude: -88.4250       In this case, the coordinates for Vassar have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.684 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.497 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.892 degrees.