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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Blackman, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blackman and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Blackman:
    • 32.867903, -85.526511
    • 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 Blackman
  • 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 Chambers County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chambers County
    • Since Blackman is near Tallapoosa County and also Lee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tallapoosa County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lee 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 Blackman

Communities Also Named Blackman ...

We found five communities that are also named Blackman.

Within Alabama, the name Blackman is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Okaloosa County
      • This Blackman is located in Okaloosa County and lies 149 miles [239.8 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Blackman that is located in Chambers County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Okaloosa County community of Blackman.
      • Santa Rosa County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Florida community of Blackman [Santa Rosa County].
    • North Carolina
      • Johnston County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Blackman [Johnston County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Luzerne County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Blackman [Luzerne County].
    • Tennessee
      • Rutherford County
      • This Blackman is located in Rutherford County and lies 214 miles [344.4 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Blackman that is located in Chambers County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rutherford County community of Blackman.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Blackman ...

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.

  • Buffalo
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Buffalo is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo
  • Chapel Hill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Fredrick Ferry
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Fredrick Ferry is located in Tallapoosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fredrick Ferry
  • Germany Ferry
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Germany Ferry is located in Tallapoosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Germany Ferry
  • Gold Hill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Gold Hill is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold Hill
  • Jones Mill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Jones Mill is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones Mill
  • Liberty Crossroads
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Liberty Crossroads is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Crossroads
  • New Harmony
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • New Harmony is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Harmony
  • Persons Bridge ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Persons Bridge is located in Tallapoosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Persons Bridge
  • Slaughters ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Tiller Crossroads
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Tiller Crossroads is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tiller Crossroads
  • Union Hill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Union Hill is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill

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

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

  • LaFayette, which is the Seat of Chambers County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 56 miles [90.1 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could walk a straight line from Blackman to Montgomery, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 631 miles [1,015.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,528 miles [10,505.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,231 miles [11,637.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,109 miles [8,222.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Blackman) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Blackman 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.
<3>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.
<4>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 Blackman 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 Blackman. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.8679, Longitude: -85.5265       In this case, the coordinates for Blackman have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.878 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.275 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.934 degrees.