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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lathrop, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lathrop 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 Lathrop:
    • 33.370951, -87.992244
    • 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 Lathrop
  • 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 Pickens County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pickens County
    • Since Lathrop is near Fayette County and also Tuscaloosa County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tuscaloosa 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 Lathrop

Communities Also Named Lathrop ...

We found six communities that are also named Lathrop.

Within Alabama, the name Lathrop is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • San Joaquin County
      • This Lathrop is located in San Joaquin County and lies 1,883 miles [3,030.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Lathrop that is located in Pickens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Joaquin County community of Lathrop.
    • Michigan
      • Delta County
      • This Lathrop is located in Delta County and lies 883 miles [1,421.1 km]<1> to the north of the Lathrop that is located in Pickens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Delta County community of Lathrop.
    • Missouri
      • Clinton County
      • This Lathrop is located in Clinton County and lies 552 miles [888.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Lathrop that is located in Pickens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clinton County community of Lathrop.
    • Ohio
      • Morgan County
      • This Lathrop is located in Morgan County and lies 537 miles [864.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Lathrop that is located in Pickens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morgan County community of Lathrop.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Susquehanna 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 Pennsylvania community of Lathrop [Susquehanna County].
      • Tioga County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Lathrop [Tioga County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lathrop ...

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.

  • Archer
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Archer is located in Pickens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Archer
  • Bell
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Bell is located in Pickens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bell
  • Coal Fire
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Coal Fire is located in Pickens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal Fire
  • Dillburg
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Dillburg is located in Pickens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dillburg
  • Ethelsville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Ethelsville is located in Pickens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ethelsville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 73 people
  • Gordo
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Gordo is located in Pickens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordo
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,594 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gordo <3>
  • Hickory
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Hickory is located in Pickens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory
  • Kennedy
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Kennedy is located in Lamar County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kennedy
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 421 people
  • Liberty
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Liberty is located in Pickens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
  • Reform
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Zion
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Zion is located in Pickens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion

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

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

  • Carrollton, which is the Seat of Pickens County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Lathrop to Carrollton, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 119 miles [191.5 km] to the southeast (SE). 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 719 miles [1,157.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,608 miles [10,634.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,319 miles [11,778.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,195 miles [8,360.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Lathrop) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Lathrop 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Lathrop 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 Lathrop. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.3710, Longitude: -87.9922       In this case, the coordinates for Lathrop have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.386 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.089 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.808 degrees.