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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Crichton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Crichton 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 Crichton:
    • 30.706301, -88.106112
    • 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 Crichton
  • 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 Mobile County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mobile County
    • Since Crichton is near Baldwin County and also Jackson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Baldwin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson 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 Crichton

Communities Also Named Crichton ...

We found five communities that are also named Crichton.

Within Alabama, the name Crichton is unique.

Beyond Alabama, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, four are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Blaine 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 Idaho community of Crichton [Blaine County].
    • Louisiana
      • Red River Parish
      • This Crichton is located in Red River Parish and lies 328 miles [527.9 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Crichton that is located in Mobile County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Red River Parish community of Crichton.
    • Saskatchewan
      • This Crichton lies 1,666 miles [2,681.2 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Crichton that is located in Mobile County.
    • Virginia
      • Brunswick 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 Virginia community of Crichton [Brunswick County].
    • West Virginia
      • Greenbrier County
      • This Crichton is located in Greenbrier County and lies 659 miles [1,060.6 km]<2> to the northeast of the Crichton that is located in Mobile County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greenbrier County community of Crichton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Crichton ...

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.

  • Chickasaw
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Cottage Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cottage Hill is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottage Hill
  • Deerwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Deerwood is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerwood
  • Eight Mile
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Forest Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Forest Park is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Park
  • Magazine
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Magazine is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magazine
  • Park Forest
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Park Forest is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Forest
  • Plateau
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Plateau is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plateau
  • Regency
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Regency is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency
  • Spring Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Spring Valley is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
  • Summerville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Summerville is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerville
  • Sunset Ranch
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Sunset Ranch is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Ranch
  • Timbers
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Timbers is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timbers
  • Whistler
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Whistler is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whistler

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

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

  • Mobile, which is the Seat of Mobile County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 156 miles [251.1 km]<2> to the northeast (NE). If you could drive a straight line from Crichton to Montgomery, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 843 miles [1,356.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 48 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,741 miles [10,848.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,442 miles [11,976.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,321 miles [8,563.3 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Crichton 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Crichton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Crichton 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 Crichton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.7063, Longitude: -88.1061       In this case, the coordinates for Crichton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.232 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.546 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.348 degrees.