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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Vernal, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vernal 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 Vernal:
    • 31.038518, -88.610858
    • 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 Vernal
  • 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 Greene County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greene County
    • Since Vernal is near George County and also Mobile County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for George County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mobile 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 Vernal

Communities Also Named Vernal ...

We found five communities that are also named Vernal.

There is one other community in Mississippi that is also named Vernal.

Beyond Mississippi, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Mississippi ...
    • Lee County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Mississippi community of Vernal [Lee County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Montrose County
      • This Vernal is located in Montrose County and lies 1,200 miles [1,931.2 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Vernal that is located in Greene County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montrose County community of Vernal.
    • Illinois
      • Vermilion County
      • This Vernal is located in Vermilion County and lies 639 miles [1,028.4 km]<2> to the north of the Vernal that is located in Greene County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Vermilion County community of Vernal.
    • New York
      • Wyoming County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New York community of Vernal [Wyoming County].
    • Utah
      • Uintah County
      • This Vernal is located in Uintah County and lies 1,335 miles [2,148.5 km]<2> to the northwest of the Vernal that is located in Greene County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Uintah County community of Vernal.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vernal ...

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.

  • Central
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Central is located in George County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central
  • Crossroads
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Crossroads is located in George County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossroads
  • Donovan ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Donovan is located in George County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donovan
  • Dueitt
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Dueitt is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dueitt
  • Earlville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Earlville is located in Mobile County (AL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Earlville
  • Hillman
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Hillman is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillman
  • Jonathan
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Jonathan is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonathan
  • Leaf
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Leaf is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leaf
  • Leakesville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Merrill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Merrill is located in George County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrill
  • Rock Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Rock Creek is located in George County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Creek

How Far From Vernal to ...

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 community such as Vernal to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Leakesville, which is the Seat of Greene County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 126 miles [202.8 km]<2> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Vernal 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 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 849 miles [1,366.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,746 miles [10,856.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,451 miles [11,991.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,328 miles [8,574.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Vernal 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Vernal) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Vernal 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 Vernal. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.0385, Longitude: -88.6109       In this case, the coordinates for Vernal have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.564 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.976 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.484 degrees.