RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Shelby County >> Glen Carbon >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Glen Carbon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Glen Carbon 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 Glen Carbon:
    • 33.204283, -86.958325
    • 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 Glen Carbon
  • 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 Shelby County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby County
    • Since Glen Carbon is near Bibb County and also Jefferson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bibb County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson 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 Glen Carbon

Communities Also Named Glen Carbon ...

We found three communities that are also named Glen Carbon.

Within Alabama, the name Glen Carbon is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Madison County
      • This Glen Carbon is located in Madison County and lies 419 miles [674.3 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Glen Carbon that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Glen Carbon.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Columbia 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 Pennsylvania community of Glen Carbon [Columbia County].
      • Schuylkill County
      • This Glen Carbon is located in Schuylkill County and lies 782 miles [1,258.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the Glen Carbon that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Schuylkill County community of Glen Carbon.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Glen Carbon ...

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.

  • Booth Ford
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Booth Ford is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Booth Ford
  • Chestnut Glen
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Chestnut Glen is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Glen
  • Fox Trace
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Fox Trace is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Trace
  • Gray Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Gray Hill is located in Bibb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray Hill
  • Hebron
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Hebron is located in Bibb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hebron
  • Marvel
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Marvel is located in Bibb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marvel
  • Masena
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Masena is located in Bibb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Masena
  • Pea Ridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Pea Ridge is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pea Ridge
  • Sawmill Town
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Sawmill Town is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawmill Town
  • Summit Farm
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Summit Farm is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit Farm
  • Superior
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Superior is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Superior

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

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

  • Columbiana, which is the Seat of Shelby County, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Glen Carbon to Columbiana, with an average speed<3> 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 most of a day.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 68 miles [109.4 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 678 miles [1,091.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,573 miles [10,578.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,281 miles [11,717.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,157 miles [8,299.4 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Glen Carbon) 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 Glen Carbon 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 Glen Carbon 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 Glen Carbon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.2043, Longitude: -86.9583       In this case, the coordinates for Glen Carbon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.75 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.329 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.425 degrees.