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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Marvyn, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Marvyn 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 Marvyn:
    • 32.439030, -85.364111
    • 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 Marvyn
  • 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 Lee County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lee County
    • Since Marvyn is near Macon County and also Russell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Macon County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Russell 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 Marvyn

Communities Also Named Marvyn ...

We found one communities that are also named Marvyn.

There is one other community in Alabama that is also named Marvyn.

Beyond Alabama.

  • Communities Located In Alabama ...
    • Russell County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Alabama community of Marvyn [Russell County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Marvyn ...

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.

  • Alliance
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Alliance is located in Macon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alliance
  • Boromville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Boromville is located in Macon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boromville
  • Creek Stand
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Creek Stand is located in Macon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creek Stand
  • Edgewood Forest
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Edgewood Forest is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgewood Forest
  • Hopewell
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Hopewell is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell
  • Little Texas
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Little Texas is located in Macon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Texas
  • Meadows Crossroads
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Meadows Crossroads is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadows Crossroads
  • Meadows Mill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Meadows Mill is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadows Mill
  • Mitchell Crossroads
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Mitchell Crossroads is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mitchell Crossroads
  • Oak Hollow
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Oak Hollow is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Hollow
  • Prince Crossroads
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Prince Crossroads is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prince Crossroads
  • Sand Hill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Sand Hill is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Hill
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Sandfort
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Sandfort is located in Russell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandfort
    • Society Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Society Hill is located in Macon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Society Hill
    • Tanglewood
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Tanglewood is located in Lee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tanglewood
    • Twin Creeks
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Twin Creeks is located in Lee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Creeks
    • Union Crossroads
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Union Crossroads is located in Lee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Crossroads

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Marvyn and extending to:

  • Opelika, which is the Seat of Lee County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<2> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Marvyn to Opelika, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 54 miles [86.9 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 645 miles [1,038 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,542 miles [10,528.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,242 miles [11,654.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,121 miles [8,241.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Marvyn 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.
<2>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 from Point A (ie- Marvyn) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Marvyn 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 Marvyn. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.4390, Longitude: -85.3641       In this case, the coordinates for Marvyn have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.758 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.076 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.965 degrees.