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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Flanders, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Flanders 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 Flanders:
    • 34.207317, -85.902748
    • 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 Flanders
  • 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 DeKalb County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DeKalb County
    • Since Flanders is near Etowah County and also Cherokee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Etowah County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cherokee 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 Flanders

Communities Also Named Flanders ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Flanders.

Within Alabama, the name Flanders is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Connecticut
      • Litchfield County
      • This Flanders is located in Litchfield County and lies 852 miles [1,371.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Flanders that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Litchfield County community of Flanders.
      • New Haven 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 Connecticut community of Flanders [New Haven County].
      • New London County
      • This Flanders is located in New London County and lies 893 miles [1,437.1 km] to the northeast of the Flanders that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New London County community of Flanders.
    • Georgia
      • Emanuel 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 Georgia community of Flanders [Emanuel County].
    • Louisiana
      • Lafayette Parish
      • This Flanders is located in Lafayette Parish and lies 456 miles [733.9 km]<1> to the southwest of the Flanders that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lafayette Parish community of Flanders.
    • Michigan
      • Alpena County
      • This Flanders is located in Alpena County and lies 758 miles [1,219.9 km]<1> to the north of the Flanders that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Alpena County community of Flanders.
    • New Jersey
      • Morris County
      • This Flanders is located in Morris County and lies 764 miles [1,229.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the Flanders that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morris County community of Flanders.
    • New York
      • Suffolk County
      • This Flanders is located in Suffolk County and lies 860 miles [1,384 km]<1> to the northeast of the Flanders that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Suffolk County community of Flanders.
    • Ontario
      • This Flanders lies 1,051 miles [1,691.4 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Flanders that is located in DeKalb County.
    • Quebec
      • This Flanders lies 1,080 miles [1,738.1 km]<1> to the northeast of the Flanders that is located in DeKalb County.
    • Texas
      • Val Verde County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Val Verde County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Val Verde County community of Flanders.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Flanders ...

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.

  • Bath Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Bath Springs is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bath Springs
  • Duck Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Duck Springs is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duck Springs
  • Greenwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Greenwood is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Homer ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Homer is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homer
  • Kings Hill ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Kings Hill is located in Cherokee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Hill
  • Lay Springs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Lay Springs is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lay Springs
  • Leonard
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Leonard is located in Cherokee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leonard
  • Marcus ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Marcus is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marcus
  • Scrougeout ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Scrougeout is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scrougeout
  • Slackland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Slackland is located in Cherokee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slackland
  • Yancy
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Yancy is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yancy

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

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

  • Fort Payne, which is the Seat of DeKalb County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Flanders to Fort Payne, 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 128 miles [206 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 588 miles [946.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 34 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,481 miles [10,430.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,190 miles [11,571.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,066 miles [8,152.9 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Flanders) 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 Flanders, 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Flanders 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 Flanders 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 Flanders. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.2073, Longitude: -85.9027       In this case, the coordinates for Flanders have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.174 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.803 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.782 degrees.