RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Cleburne County >> Abel >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Abel, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Abel 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 Abel:
    • 33.548719, -85.712461
    • 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 Abel
  • 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 Cleburne County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cleburne County
    • Since Abel is near Calhoun County and also Clay County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Calhoun County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clay 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 Abel

Communities Also Named Abel ...

We found four communities that are also named Abel.

Within Alabama, the name Abel is unique.

Beyond Alabama, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

In addition to the above occurrences of Abel, we know of two communities located outside of the United States and Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Houston 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 Georgia community of Abel [Houston County].
    • Nebraska
      • Saunders County
      • This Abel is located in Saunders County and lies 780 miles [1,255.3 km]<2> to the northwest of the Abel that is located in Cleburne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saunders County community of Abel.
  • Communities Beyond North America ...
    • Ethiopia
      • Distance: 7,859 miles [12,647.8 km]<2> to the east northeast
      • Open a Google Map centered on Abel
    • Mozambique
      • Distance: 8,833 miles [14,215.3 km]<2> to the east
      • Open a Google Map centered on Abel

Curious and Interesting Names Near Abel ...

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.

  • Belltown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Belltown is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belltown
  • Blue Pond
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Blue Pond is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Pond
  • Boiling Spring
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Boiling Spring is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boiling Spring
  • Choccolocco
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Choccolocco is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Choccolocco
  • Delta
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Elder
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Elder is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elder
  • Five Points
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Five Points is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Friendship
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Friendship is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship
  • Golden Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Golden Springs is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden Springs
  • Harmony
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Harmony is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
  • Hicks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Hicks is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hicks
  • Holly Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Holly Springs is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Springs
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Jo Dell
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Jo Dell is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jo Dell
    • Lakeview
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Lakeview is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
    • Needmore
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Needmore is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Needmore
    • Spring Valley
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Spring Valley is located in Calhoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
    • Union
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Union is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union

How Far From Abel 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 Abel to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Heflin, which is the Seat of Cleburne County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Abel to Heflin, with an average speed<4> 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 87 miles [140 km] to the south southwest (SSW). 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 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 607 miles [976.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,504 miles [10,467.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,210 miles [11,603.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,087 miles [8,186.7 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 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 Abel 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Abel) 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 Abel 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 Abel. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.5487, Longitude: -85.7125       In this case, the coordinates for Abel have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.026 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.541 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.855 degrees.