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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ellison, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ellison 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 Ellison:
    • 32.033205, -87.712505
    • 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 Ellison
  • 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 Marengo County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marengo County
    • Since Ellison is near Clarke County and also Wilcox County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clarke County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wilcox 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 Ellison

Communities Also Named Ellison ...

We found ten communities that are also named Ellison.

Within Alabama, the name Ellison is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Jefferson County
      • This Ellison is located in Jefferson County and lies 289 miles [465.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Ellison that is located in Marengo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Ellison.
    • British Columbia
      • This Ellison lies 2,036 miles [3,276.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Ellison that is located in Marengo County.
    • Illinois
      • Warren County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Ellison [Warren County].
    • Indiana
      • Allen County
      • This Ellison is located in Allen County and lies 635 miles [1,021.9 km]<1> to the north of the Ellison that is located in Marengo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allen County community of Ellison.
    • Nebraska
      • Saline County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Saline County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saline County community of Ellison.
    • Nevada
      • Humboldt County
      • This Ellison is located in Humboldt County and lies 1,732 miles [2,787.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Ellison that is located in Marengo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Humboldt County community of Ellison.
    • Ohio
      • Franklin County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Franklin County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Ellison.
      • Lawrence County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Ellison [Lawrence County].
    • Utah
      • Davis County
      • This Ellison is located in Davis County and lies 1,476 miles [2,375.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Ellison that is located in Marengo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Davis County community of Ellison.
    • West Virginia
      • Summers County
      • This Ellison is located in Summers County and lies 540 miles [869 km]<1> to the northeast of the Ellison that is located in Marengo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Summers County community of Ellison.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ellison ...

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.

  • Choctaw Corner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Choctaw Corner is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Choctaw Corner
  • Clayhill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Clayhill is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clayhill
  • Glover
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Glover is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glover
  • Magnolia
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Magnolia is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
  • Pope
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Pope is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pope
  • Roundhill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Roundhill is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roundhill
  • Rural
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Rural is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rural
  • Sweet Water
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Sweet Water is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Water
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 243 people
  • Vineland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Vineland is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vineland

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Ellison once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Ellison and extending to:

  • Linden, which is the Seat of Marengo County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Ellison to Linden, with an average speed<4> 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 85 miles [136.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). 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 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 764 miles [1,229.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 44 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,660 miles [10,718.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,366 miles [11,854.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,243 miles [8,437.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Ellison) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Ellison, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Ellison 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.
<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 Ellison 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 Ellison. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.0332, Longitude: -87.7125       In this case, the coordinates for Ellison have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.116 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.592 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.956 degrees.