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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Halcyon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Halcyon 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 Halcyon:
    • 32.358472, -86.173576
    • 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 Halcyon
  • 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 Montgomery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Since Halcyon is near Elmore County and also Macon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Elmore County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Macon 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 Halcyon

Communities Also Named Halcyon ...

We found five communities that are also named Halcyon.

Within Alabama, the name Halcyon is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • San Luis Obispo County
      • This Halcyon is located in San Luis Obispo County and lies 1,975 miles [3,178.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Halcyon that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Luis Obispo County community of Halcyon.
    • Kansas
      • Wichita 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 Kansas community of Halcyon [Wichita County].
    • Louisiana
      • De Soto Parish
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Halcyon [De Soto Parish].
    • Missouri
      • Dent County
      • This Halcyon is located in Dent County and lies 460 miles [740.3 km]<1> to the northwest of the Halcyon that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dent County community of Halcyon.
    • West Virginia
      • Logan County
      • This Halcyon is located in Logan County and lies 451 miles [725.8 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Halcyon that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Logan County community of Halcyon.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Halcyon ...

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.

  • Arrowhead
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Arrowhead is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arrowhead
  • Cooks
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Cooks is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooks
  • Executive Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Executive Park is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Executive Park
  • Foxchase
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Foxchase is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxchase
  • Foxwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Foxwood is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxwood
  • Foxwood Trace
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Foxwood Trace is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxwood Trace
  • Georgetown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Georgetown is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
  • Green Acres
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Green Acres is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Lakeview Heights
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Lakeview Heights is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Heights
  • Landmarks
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Landmarks is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Landmarks
  • Merry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Merry is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merry
  • Perry's Mill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Perry's Mill is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perry's Mill
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Regency Forest
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Regency Forest is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency Forest
    • Regency Park
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Regency Park is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency Park
    • Rosemary
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Rosemary is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosemary
    • Sunshine Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Sunshine Village is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunshine Village
    • Timbers
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Timbers is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timbers
    • Young Place
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Young Place is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Young Place

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

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

  • Montgomery, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies just to the West.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies just to the west (W).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 682 miles [1,097.6 km]<1> to the northeast (NE). If you could drive a straight line from Halcyon to White House, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 39 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 27 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,580 miles [10,589.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,282 miles [11,719.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,161 miles [8,305.8 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- Halcyon) 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 Halcyon 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>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 Halcyon, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Halcyon 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 Halcyon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.3585, Longitude: -86.1736       In this case, the coordinates for Halcyon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.227 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.608 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.293 degrees.