Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Orchard, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Orchard and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Orchard
- 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 Orchard:
- 30.719634, -88.207226
- 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 Orchard
- 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 Mobile County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Mobile County
- Since Orchard is near Jackson County and also George County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Jackson County
- eBird sighting report for George 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 Orchard ...
We found 23 communities that share the name Orchard.
Within Alabama, the name Orchard is unique.
Beyond Alabama, we know of another 23 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 23 communities, 22 are located in the United States and three are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Morgan County
- This Orchard is located in Morgan County and lies 1,110 miles [1,786.4 km]<2> to the northwest of the Orchard that is located in Mobile County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morgan County community of Orchard.
- Weld County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Orchard [Weld County].
- Delaware
- Idaho
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Michigan
- Nebraska
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Ontario
- Texas
- Fort Bend County
- This Orchard is located in Fort Bend County and lies 469 miles [754.8 km]<2> to the west of the Orchard that is located in Mobile County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fort Bend County community of Orchard.
- Galveston County
- This Orchard is located in Galveston County and lies 425 miles [684 km] to the west of the Orchard that is located in Mobile County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Galveston County community of Orchard.
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- Walla Walla County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Washington community of Orchard [Walla Walla County].
- Yakima County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Washington community of Orchard [Yakima County].
- West Virginia
- Brooke County
- This Orchard is located in Brooke County and lies 789 miles [1,269.8 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Orchard that is located in Mobile County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Brooke County community of Orchard.
- Monroe County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Orchard [Monroe County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Orchard ...
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.
- Deerwood
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east) - Edgefield
(5 miles [8 km] to the south) - Eight Mile
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eight Mile have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eight Mile
- Eight Mile is located in Mobile County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eight Mile <5>
- Indian Hills
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
- Indian Hills is located in Mobile County
- Indian Springs
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Springs
- Indian Springs is located in Mobile County
- Park Forest
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Park Forest have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Forest
- Park Forest is located in Mobile County
- Pine Run
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south) - Ponderosa
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west) - Regency
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast) - Scenic Hills
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Scenic Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scenic Hills
- Scenic Hills is located in Mobile County
- Sugar Creek
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sugar Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Creek
- Sugar Creek is located in Mobile County
- Timbers
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
How Far From Orchard 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 Orchard to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Orchard and extending to:
- Mobile, which is the Seat of Mobile County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Orchard to Mobile, with an average speed<6> 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.
- Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 160 miles [257.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 9 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 847 miles [1,363.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 49 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,745 miles [10,855 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,446 miles [11,983.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,325 miles [8,569.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Orchard. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Mobile County: www.mobilecounty.org/
The official website for State of Alabama: https://www.alabama.gov/
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 Orchard, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <2> | 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- Orchard) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Orchard. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.7196, Longitude: -88.2072 In this case, the coordinates for Orchard have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 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 Orchard 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Orchard to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.293 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.619 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.384 degrees. |