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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Carmen, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Carmen 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 Carmen:
    • 31.632382, -86.189122
    • 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 Carmen
  • 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 Crenshaw County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Crenshaw County
    • Since Carmen is near Coffee County and also Pike County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Coffee County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pike 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 Carmen

Communities Also Named Carmen ...

We found seven communities that are also named Carmen.

Within Alabama, the name Carmen is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Santa Cruz County
      • This Carmen is located in Santa Cruz County and lies 1,458 miles [2,346.4 km]<1> to the west of the Carmen that is located in Crenshaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Santa Cruz County community of Carmen.
    • Idaho
      • Lemhi County
      • This Carmen is located in Lemhi County and lies 1,755 miles [2,824.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Carmen that is located in Crenshaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lemhi County community of Carmen.
    • Kansas
      • Gray County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Gray County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gray County community of Carmen.
      • Meade County
      • This community is historic and although located in Meade County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Meade County community of Carmen.
    • New York
      • Albany County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New York community of Carmen [Albany County].
    • North Carolina
      • Madison County
      • This Carmen is located in Madison County and lies 364 miles [585.8 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Carmen that is located in Crenshaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Carmen.
    • Oklahoma
      • Alfalfa County
      • This Carmen is located in Alfalfa County and lies 779 miles [1,253.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Carmen that is located in Crenshaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Alfalfa County community of Carmen.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Carmen ...

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.

  • Baltic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Baltic is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baltic
  • Bullock
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Bullock is located in Crenshaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bullock
  • Cherokee Village
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Cherokee Village is located in Crenshaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee Village
  • Hallsville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Hallsville is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hallsville
  • Ivy Creek
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Ivy Creek is located in Crenshaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivy Creek
  • Jack
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Jack is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jack
  • Little Oak
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Little Oak is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Oak
  • Peacock ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Peacock is located in Crenshaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peacock
  • Pine Level
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Pine Level is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Level
  • Pleasant Ridge
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Pleasant Ridge is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
  • Sanders Hill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Sanders Hill is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanders Hill
  • Shady Grove
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Shady Grove is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
  • Social Town
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Social Town is located in Crenshaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Social Town
  • Weed Crossroad
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Weed Crossroad is located in Crenshaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weed Crossroad

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

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

  • Luverne, which is the Seat of Crenshaw County, lies just to the Northwest.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 51 miles [82.1 km]<1> to the north (N). If you could walk a straight line from Carmen to Montgomery, with an average speed<4> 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 most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 718 miles [1,155.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,615 miles [10,645.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,314 miles [11,770.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,194 miles [8,358.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Carmen) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Carmen, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Carmen 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.
<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 Carmen 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 Carmen. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.6324, Longitude: -86.1891       In this case, the coordinates for Carmen have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.185 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.459 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.447 degrees.