Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Duke, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Duke and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Duke
- 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 Duke:
- 33.850655, -85.902468
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Duke
- 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 Calhoun County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Calhoun County
- Since Duke is near Etowah County and also Saint Clair County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Etowah County
- eBird sighting report for Saint Clair 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Duke ...
We found twelve communities that share the name Duke.
Within Alabama, the name Duke is unique.
Beyond Alabama, we know of another twelve communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Georgia
- Louisiana
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Duke ...
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.
- Angel
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Angel
- Angel is located in Calhoun County
- Crystal Springs
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crystal Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Springs
- Crystal Springs is located in Calhoun County
- Hebron ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest) - Hill Top ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the south) - Oak Grove ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north) - Peek's Hill ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Peek's Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peek's Hill
- Peek's Hill is located in Calhoun County
- Reads Mill
(Less than 2 miles to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reads Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reads Mill
- Reads Mill is located in Calhoun County
- Sulphur Springs
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sulphur Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sulphur Springs
- Sulphur Springs is located in Calhoun County
- Union
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
How Far From Duke to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Duke to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Duke and extending to:
- Anniston, which is the Seat of Calhoun County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<3> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Duke to Anniston, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours 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 104 miles [167.4 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 4 days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 603 miles [970.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,498 miles [10,457.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,206 miles [11,596.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,082 miles [8,178.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Duke. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Calhoun County: www.calhouncounty.org/
The official website for State of Alabama: https://www.alabama.gov/
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 Duke 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> | 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 Duke, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Duke) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Duke. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.8507, Longitude: -85.9025 In this case, the coordinates for Duke have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Duke to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.156 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.732 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.863 degrees. |