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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Darrah, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Darrah 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 Darrah:
    • 32.855684, -87.788345
    • 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 Darrah
  • 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 Hale County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hale County
    • Since Darrah is near Greene County and also Tuscaloosa County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greene County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tuscaloosa 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 Darrah

Communities Also Named Darrah ...

We found two communities that are also named Darrah.

Within Alabama, the name Darrah is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Mariposa County
      • This Darrah is located in Mariposa County and lies 1,827 miles [2,940.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Darrah that is located in Hale County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mariposa County community of Darrah.
    • Utah
      • Carbon 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 Utah community of Darrah [Carbon County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Darrah ...

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.

  • Chiles Ferry
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Chiles Ferry is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chiles Ferry
  • Cypress
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Cypress is located in Hale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cypress
  • Guinea
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Guinea is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guinea
  • Harper Hill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Harper Hill is located in Hale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harper Hill
  • Havana
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Havana is located in Hale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
  • Jennings Ferry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jennings Ferry is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jennings Ferry
  • Powers
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Powers is located in Hale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powers
  • Rocky Ford
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Rocky Ford is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ford
  • Union
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Union is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 207 people

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

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

  • Greensboro, which is the Seat of Hale County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Darrah to Greensboro, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 92 miles [148.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 731 miles [1,176.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 42 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,624 miles [10,660.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,333 miles [11,801.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,210 miles [8,384.7 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 from Point A (ie- Darrah) 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 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 Darrah 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 Darrah 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 Darrah. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.8557, Longitude: -87.7883       In this case, the coordinates for Darrah have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.225 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.831 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.827 degrees.