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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Charles, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Charles 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 Charles:
    • 32.321808, -88.285861
    • 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 Charles
  • 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 Sumter County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sumter County
    • Since Charles is near Choctaw County and also Lauderdale County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Choctaw County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lauderdale 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 Charles

Communities Also Named Charles ...

We found eight communities that are also named Charles.

Within Alabama, the name Charles is unique.

Beyond Alabama, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, six are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • British Columbia
      • This Charles lies 2,091 miles [3,365.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Charles that is located in Sumter County.
    • Georgia
      • Stewart County
      • This Charles is located in Stewart County and lies 202 miles [325.1 km]<1> to the east of the Charles that is located in Sumter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stewart County community of Charles.
      • Toombs County
      • This Charles is located in Toombs County and lies 341 miles [548.8 km] to the east of the Charles that is located in Sumter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Toombs County community of Charles.
    • Manitoba
      • This Charles lies 1,717 miles [2,763.2 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Charles that is located in Sumter County.
    • Michigan
      • Mackinac County
      • This Charles is located in Mackinac County and lies 964 miles [1,551.4 km]<1> to the north of the Charles that is located in Sumter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mackinac County community of Charles.
    • North Carolina
      • Iredell County
      • This Charles is located in Iredell County and lies 490 miles [788.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Charles that is located in Sumter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Iredell County community of Charles.
      • Onslow 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 Charles [Onslow County].
    • Texas
      • Travis 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 Texas community of Charles [Travis County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Charles ...

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.

  • Chapel Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Choctaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
  • Cuba
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Cuba is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuba
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 287 people
  • Cyril
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Cyril is located in Choctaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cyril
  • Derby
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Derby is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derby
  • Edna
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Edna is located in Choctaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edna
  • Hurricane Creek
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Hurricane Creek is located in Clarke County (MS)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hurricane Creek
  • Indian Springs
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Indian Springs is located in Choctaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Springs
  • Intercourse
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Intercourse is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Intercourse
  • Persimmon Grove
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Persimmon Grove is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Persimmon Grove
  • Scratch Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Scratch Hill is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scratch Hill
  • Standard
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Standard is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Standard
  • Whynot
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Whynot is located in Lauderdale County (MS)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whynot

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

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

  • Livingston, which is the Seat of Sumter County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Charles to Livingston, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 115 miles [185.1 km] to the east (E). 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 776 miles [1,248.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 31 days and walking would take 44 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,671 miles [10,735.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,379 miles [11,875.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,256 miles [8,458.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Charles) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Charles 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 Charles 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 Charles. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.3218, Longitude: -88.2859       In this case, the coordinates for Charles have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.483 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.058 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.128 degrees.