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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gosport, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gosport 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 Gosport:
    • 31.582660, -87.583604
    • 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 Gosport
  • 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 Clarke County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clarke County
    • Since Gosport is near Monroe County and also Wilcox County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe 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 Gosport

Communities Also Named Gosport ...

We found five communities that are also named Gosport.

Within Alabama, the name Gosport 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 three are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Owen County
      • This Gosport is located in Owen County and lies 538 miles [865.8 km]<1> to the north of the Gosport that is located in Clarke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Owen County community of Gosport.
    • Iowa
      • Marion County
      • This Gosport is located in Marion County and lies 732 miles [1,178 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Gosport that is located in Clarke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Gosport.
    • New Hampshire
      • Rockingham County
      • This Gosport is located in Rockingham County and lies 1,215 miles [1,955.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the Gosport that is located in Clarke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rockingham County community of Gosport.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Gosport.
    • Virginia
      • Portsmouth City
      • This Gosport is located in Portsmouth City and lies 736 miles [1,184.5 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Gosport that is located in Clarke County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Portsmouth City community of Gosport.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gosport ...

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.

  • Chance
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Chance is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chance
  • Finchburg ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Finchburg is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Finchburg
  • Fountain
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Fountain is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountain
  • Howard Landing
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Howard Landing is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howard Landing
  • Manila
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Manila is located in Clarke County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manila
  • Marshall Upper Landing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Masons Ferry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Masons Ferry is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Masons Ferry
  • Olivers Ferry
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Olivers Ferry is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olivers Ferry
  • Scratch Ankle
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Scratch Ankle is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scratch Ankle

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

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

  • Grove Hill, which is the Seat of Clarke County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Gosport to Grove Hill, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day 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 93 miles [149.7 km] to the northeast (NE). 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 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 779 miles [1,253.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 31 days and walking would take 45 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,677 miles [10,745.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,380 miles [11,877 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,258 miles [8,461.9 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- Gosport) 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 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 Gosport 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 Gosport 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 Gosport. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.5827, Longitude: -87.5836       In this case, the coordinates for Gosport have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.001 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.398 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.99 degrees.