Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Rural, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rural and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Rural
- 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 Rural:
- 31.864320, -87.738613
- 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 Rural
- 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 Clarke County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Clarke County
- Since Rural is near Wilcox County and also Marengo County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Wilcox County
- eBird sighting report for Marengo 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 Rural ...
We found twelve communities that share the name Rural.
Within Alabama, the name Rural is unique.
Beyond Alabama, we know of another twelve communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Chase 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 Kansas community of Rural [Chase County].
- Kingman 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 Kansas community of Rural [Kingman County].
- Kentucky
- Mississippi
- Ohio
- Utah
- Virginia
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Rural ...
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.
- Choctaw Corner
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Choctaw Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Choctaw Corner
- Choctaw Corner is located in Clarke County
- Clayhill
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north) - Glover
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest) - Greenwood
(5 miles [8 km] to the south) - Grove Hill
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grove Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Hill
- Grove Hill is located in Clarke County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,709 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Grove Hill <4>
- Lower Peach Tree
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Peach Tree
- Lower Peach Tree is located in Wilcox County
- Peacock
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south) - Pleasant Hill
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
- Pleasant Hill is located in Clarke County
- Roundhill
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast) - Vineland
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
How Far From Rural to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Rural to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Rural and extending to:
- Grove Hill, which is the Seat of Clarke County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Rural to Grove Hill, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 91 miles [146.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 772 miles [1,242.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 31 days and walking would take 44 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,670 miles [10,734.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,375 miles [11,868.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,252 miles [8,452.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Rural. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Alabama: https://www.alabama.gov/
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 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 Rural 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Rural) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rural. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.8643, Longitude: -87.7386 In this case, the coordinates for Rural have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Rural to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.117 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.571 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.998 degrees. |