RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Greene County >> Johnsons Ferry >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Johnsons Ferry, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Johnsons Ferry 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 Johnsons Ferry:
    • 32.935684, -88.197250
    • 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 Johnsons Ferry
  • 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 Greene County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greene County
    • Since Johnsons Ferry is near Sumter County and also Pickens County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sumter County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pickens 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 Johnsons Ferry

Communities Also Named Johnsons Ferry ...

We found two communities that are also named Johnsons Ferry.

Within Alabama, the name Johnsons Ferry is unique.

Beyond Alabama, we know of two communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these two communities, one is located in the United States and the other in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Mississippi
      • Forrest County
      • This Johnsons Ferry is located in Forrest County and lies 126 miles [202.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Johnsons Ferry that is located in Greene County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Forrest County community of Johnsons Ferry.
    • 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 Johnsons Ferry.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Johnsons Ferry ...

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.

  • Clark
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Clark is located in Pickens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clark
  • Cooksville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Cooksville is located in Noxubee County (MS)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooksville
  • Craigs Ferry
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Craigs Ferry is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craigs Ferry
  • Dancy
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Dancy is located in Pickens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dancy
  • Fair Oaks
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Fair Oaks is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Oaks
  • Geiger
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Geiger is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geiger
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 142 people
  • Pleasant Ridge
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Pleasant Ridge is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
  • Ridge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Ridge is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridge
  • Stones Ferry
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Stones Ferry is located in Pickens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stones Ferry

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

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

  • Eutaw, which is the Seat of Greene County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Johnsons Ferry to Eutaw, 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 6 hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 116 miles [186.7 km] to the east southeast (ESE). 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 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 746 miles [1,200.6 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,637 miles [10,681.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,348 miles [11,825.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,224 miles [8,407.2 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- Johnsons Ferry) 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 Johnsons Ferry 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 Johnsons Ferry 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 Johnsons Ferry. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.9357, Longitude: -88.1972       In this case, the coordinates for Johnsons Ferry have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.479 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.136 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.976 degrees.