Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ashford, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ashford and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Ashford
- 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 Ashford:
- 31.185392, -85.236649
- 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 Ashford
- 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 Houston County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Houston County
- Since Ashford is near Early County and also Henry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Early County
- eBird sighting report for Henry 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 Ashford ...
We found twelve communities that share the name Ashford.
There is one other community in Alabama which is also named Ashford.
Beyond Alabama, we know of another eleven communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Alabama ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Connecticut
- Maryland
- Minnesota
- Nebraska
- New York
- North Carolina
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Fond du Lac County
- This Ashford is located in Fond du Lac County and lies 873 miles [1,405 km]<2> to the north of the Ashford that is located in Houston County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fond du Lac County community of Ashford.
- Richland County
- This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wisconsin community of Ashford [Richland County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ashford ...
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.
- Barber
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north) - Cottondale
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cottondale have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottondale
- Cottondale is located in Houston County
- Cottonwood
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
- Cottonwood is located in Houston County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,247 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cottonwood <5>
- Forest Park
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forest Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Park
- Forest Park is located in Houston County
- Gordon
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east) - Liberty
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east) - Love Hill
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Melody Heights
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Melody Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melody Heights
- Melody Heights is located in Houston County
- Pansey
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast) - Parish
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Parish have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parish
- Parish is located in Houston County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Parish <5>
- Pleasant Plains
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Plains have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Plains
- Pleasant Plains is located in Houston County
- Shady Heights
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shady Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Heights
- Shady Heights is located in Houston County
- Continue List (4 more) ...
- Stadium Place
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stadium Place have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stadium Place
- Stadium Place is located in Houston County
- Terry Crossroads
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Terry Crossroads have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terry Crossroads
- Terry Crossroads is located in Houston County
- Wiregrass Hills
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wiregrass Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wiregrass Hills
- Wiregrass Hills is located in Houston County
- Young America
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Young America have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Young America
- Young America is located in Houston County
- Stadium Place
How Far From Ashford 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 city such as Ashford to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Ashford and extending to:
- Dothan, which is the Seat of Houston County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Ashford to Dothan, 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 103 miles [165.8 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 4 days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 705 miles [1,134.6 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 40 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,595 miles [10,613.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,289 miles [11,730.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,171 miles [8,321.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Ashford. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Houston County: www.houstoncounty.org/
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 Ashford 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- Ashford) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ashford. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.1854, Longitude: -85.2366 In this case, the coordinates for Ashford have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Ashford, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Ashford 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 312.601 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.722 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.182 degrees. |