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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in House, we use the following websites to find information relevant to House 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 House:
    • 33.590383, -85.852743
    • 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 House
  • 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 Calhoun County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Calhoun County
    • Since House is near Talladega County and also Tallapoosa County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Talladega County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tallapoosa 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 House

Communities Also Named House ...

We found four communities that are also named House.

Within Alabama, the name House is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Mississippi
      • Neshoba County
      • This House is located in Neshoba County and lies 193 miles [310.6 km]<1> to the west southwest of the House that is located in Calhoun County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Neshoba County community of House.
    • New Mexico
      • Quay County
      • This House is located in Quay County and lies 1,033 miles [1,662.5 km]<1> to the west of the House that is located in Calhoun County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Quay County community of House.
    • North Carolina
      • Pitt County
      • This House is located in Pitt County and lies 502 miles [807.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the House that is located in Calhoun County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pitt County community of House.
    • Texas
      • Fort Bend 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 Texas community of House [Fort Bend County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near House ...

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.

  • Blue Pond
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Blue Pond is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Pond
  • Boiling Spring
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Boiling Spring is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boiling Spring
  • Coldwater
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Coldwater is located in Talladega County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coldwater
  • Friendship
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Friendship is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship
  • Hicks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Hicks is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hicks
  • Jo Dell
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jo Dell is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jo Dell
  • Lakeview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Lakeview is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Meadowbrook
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Meadowbrook is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
  • Mechanicsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Mechanicsville is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsville
  • Silver Run
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Silver Run is located in Talladega County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Run
  • Sweet Home
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Sweet Home is located in Talladega County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Home
  • Trinity
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Trinity is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trinity
  • Woodland Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Woodland Park is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Park

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of House once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in House and extending to:

  • Anniston, which is the Seat of Calhoun County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 87 miles [140 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from House to Montgomery, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 612 miles [984.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,508 miles [10,473.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,215 miles [11,611.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,092 miles [8,194.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- House) 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 House 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 House, 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 House 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 House. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.5904, Longitude: -85.8527       In this case, the coordinates for House have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.112 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.646 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.902 degrees.