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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Fordyce, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fordyce 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 Fordyce:
    • 32.949847, -85.585510
    • 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 Fordyce
  • 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 Chambers County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chambers County
    • Since Fordyce is near Tallapoosa County and also Cherokee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tallapoosa 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 Fordyce

Communities Also Named Fordyce ...

We found five communities that are also named Fordyce.

Within Alabama, the name Fordyce 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 ...
    • Arkansas
      • Dallas County
      • This Fordyce is located in Dallas County and lies 398 miles [640.5 km]<1> to the west of the Fordyce that is located in Chambers County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dallas County community of Fordyce.
    • Kentucky
      • Warren 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 Kentucky community of Fordyce [Warren County].
    • Nebraska
      • Cedar County
      • This Fordyce is located in Cedar County and lies 928 miles [1,493.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the Fordyce that is located in Chambers County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cedar County community of Fordyce.
    • Ontario
      • This Fordyce lies 786 miles [1,264.9 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Fordyce that is located in Chambers County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Greene County
      • This Fordyce is located in Greene County and lies 565 miles [909.3 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Fordyce that is located in Chambers County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greene County community of Fordyce.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fordyce ...

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.

  • Everglade
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Everglade is located in Tallapoosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Everglade
  • Fredrick Ferry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Fredrick Ferry is located in Tallapoosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fredrick Ferry
  • Frog Eye
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Frog Eye is located in Tallapoosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frog Eye
  • Germany Ferry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Germany Ferry is located in Tallapoosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Germany Ferry
  • Griffin Ferry
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Griffin Ferry is located in Tallapoosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Griffin Ferry
  • Matilda
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Matilda is located in Tallapoosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Matilda
  • Matilda Ferry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Matilda Ferry is located in Tallapoosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Matilda Ferry
  • Persons Bridge ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Persons Bridge is located in Tallapoosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Persons Bridge
  • Tiller Crossroads
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Tiller Crossroads is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tiller Crossroads
  • Union Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Union Hill is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill
  • Wait Ferry
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Wait Ferry is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wait Ferry

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

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

  • LaFayette, which is the Seat of Chambers County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Fordyce to LaFayette, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 57 miles [91.7 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 629 miles [1,012.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,527 miles [10,504.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,230 miles [11,635.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,108 miles [8,220.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Fordyce) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Fordyce 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 Fordyce 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 Fordyce. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.9498, Longitude: -85.5855       In this case, the coordinates for Fordyce have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.918 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.332 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.939 degrees.