|
Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ball Flat, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ball Flat 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 Ball Flat:
- 34.017949, -85.733661
- 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 Ball Flat
- 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 Cherokee County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Cherokee County
- Since Ball Flat is near Etowah County and also Calhoun County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Etowah County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Calhoun 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 Ball Flat
Communities Also Named Ball Flat ...
We found one communities that are also named Ball Flat.
There is one other community in Alabama that is also named Ball Flat.
Beyond Alabama.
- Communities Located In Alabama ...
- Etowah 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 Alabama community of Ball Flat [Etowah County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ball Flat ...
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.
- Ballplay
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Centre
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Coat's Bend
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Couch
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Couch is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Couch
- Dixon Shop
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Dixon Shop is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixon Shop
- Frog Mountain
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Frog Mountain is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frog Mountain
- Gnatville
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Gnatville is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gnatville
- Hokes Bluff
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Hokes Bluff Ferry
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Hokes Bluff Ferry is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hokes Bluff Ferry
- Irene ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Irene is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irene
- Kings Hill ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Kings Hill is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Hill
- Luke
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Luke is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luke
- Continue List (8 more) ...
- Maple Grove
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
- Maple Grove is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
- Maxwellborn
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Maxwellborn is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxwellborn
- Millie ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Millie is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millie
- Mink ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Mink is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mink
- Pope
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Pope is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pope
- Prices
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Prices is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prices
- Turkey Town ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Turkey Town is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Town
- Wood Ferry
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Wood Ferry is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Ferry
How Far From Ball Flat 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 Ball Flat to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Ball Flat and extending to:
- Centre, which is the Seat of Cherokee County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<3> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Ball Flat to Centre, 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 117 miles [188.3 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 588 miles [946.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 34 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,483 miles [10,433.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,191 miles [11,572.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,067 miles [8,154.5 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 Ball Flat 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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Ball Flat) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Ball Flat 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 Ball Flat. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.0179, Longitude: -85.7337 In this case, the coordinates for Ball Flat have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.063 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.649 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.757 degrees. |
|
|