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 Cotton Hill:
31.834643, -85.280019
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 Cotton Hill
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 Barbour County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found four communities that are also named Cotton Hill.
Within Alabama, the name Cotton Hill is unique.
Beyond Alabama, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Georgia
Clay County
This Cotton Hill is located in Clay County and lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Cotton Hill that is located in Barbour County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Cotton Hill.
Illinois
Sangamon County
This Cotton Hill is located in Sangamon County and lies 594 miles [956 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Cotton Hill that is located in Barbour County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sangamon County community of Cotton Hill.
South Carolina
Dorchester County
This Cotton Hill is located in Dorchester County and lies 304 miles [489.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Cotton Hill that is located in Barbour County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dorchester County community of Cotton Hill.
West Virginia
Fayette County
This Cotton Hill is located in Fayette County and lies 492 miles [791.8 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Cotton Hill that is located in Barbour County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Cotton Hill.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Cotton Hill ...
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.
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 Cotton Hill to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Cotton Hill and extending to:
Clayton, which is the Seat of Barbour County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Cotton Hill to Clayton, with an average speed<2> 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 70 miles [112.7 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 672 miles [1,081.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,566 miles [10,567 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,263 miles [11,688.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,144 miles [8,278.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'
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 from Point A (ie- Cotton Hill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>
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.
<3>
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 Cotton Hill 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 Cotton Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.8346, Longitude: -85.2800 In this case, the coordinates for Cotton Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.67 degrees.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.892 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.063 degrees.