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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Holly Pond, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Holly Pond 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 Holly Pond:
- 34.174256, -86.616401
- 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 Holly Pond
- 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 Cullman County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Cullman County
- Since Holly Pond is near Blount County and also Morgan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Blount County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Morgan 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 Holly Pond
Curious and Interesting Names Near Holly Pond ...
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.
- Berlin
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Birdie
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Birdie is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birdie
- Birdsong
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Birdsong is located in Cullman County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birdsong
- Liberty
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Mountain Grove
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- New Harmony
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- New Harmony is located in Cullman County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Harmony
- Rock Springs
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Rock Springs is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Springs
- Strawberry
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Strawberry is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strawberry
- Union Grove
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Union Grove is located in Cullman County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Grove
How Far From Holly Pond 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 town such as Holly Pond to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Holly Pond and extending to:
- Cullman, which is the Seat of Cullman County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Holly Pond to Cullman, with an average speed<2> 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 125 miles [201.2 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 623 miles [1,002.6 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<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,512 miles [10,480 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,223 miles [11,624.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,099 miles [8,206 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Holly Pond) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <2> | 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. |
| <3> | 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 Holly Pond 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 Holly Pond. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.1743, Longitude: -86.6164 |
| <4> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.602 degrees. |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.293 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.079 degrees. |
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