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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McIntosh, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McIntosh 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 McIntosh:
    • 31.264970, -88.028349
    • 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 McIntosh
  • 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 Washington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Since McIntosh is near Choctaw County and also Mobile County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Choctaw County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mobile 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 McIntosh

Communities Also Named McIntosh ...

We found ten communities that are also named McIntosh.

Within Alabama, the name McIntosh is unique.

Beyond Alabama, we know of ten communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these ten communities, nine are located in the United States and three are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Marion County
      • This McIntosh is located in Marion County and lies 367 miles [590.6 km]<1> to the east southeast of the McIntosh that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of McIntosh.
    • Georgia
      • Liberty County
      • This McIntosh is located in Liberty County and lies 384 miles [618 km]<1> to the east of the McIntosh that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Liberty County community of McIntosh.
    • Illinois
      • Kane 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 Illinois community of McIntosh [Kane County].
    • Kansas
      • Jefferson 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 Kansas community of McIntosh [Jefferson County].
    • Minnesota
      • Polk County
      • This McIntosh is located in Polk County and lies 1,204 miles [1,937.7 km]<1> to the north northwest of the McIntosh that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Polk County community of McIntosh.
    • Missouri
      • Pike County
      • This McIntosh is located in Pike County and lies 585 miles [941.5 km]<1> to the north northwest of the McIntosh that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pike County community of McIntosh.
    • New Mexico
      • Torrance County
      • This McIntosh is located in Torrance County and lies 1,070 miles [1,722 km]<1> to the west northwest of the McIntosh that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Torrance County community of McIntosh.
    • Ontario
      • This McIntosh lies 954 miles [1,535.3 km]<1> to the north northeast of the McIntosh that is located in Washington County.
    • South Dakota
      • Corson County
      • This McIntosh is located in Corson County and lies 1,237 miles [1,990.8 km]<1> to the north northwest of the McIntosh that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Corson County community of McIntosh.
    • Washington
      • Thurston County
      • This McIntosh is located in Thurston County and lies 2,126 miles [3,421.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the McIntosh that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Thurston County community of McIntosh.

Curious and Interesting Names Near McIntosh ...

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.

  • German Ford
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • German Ford is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for German Ford
  • Happy Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Happy Hill is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Happy Hill
  • Holders Ferry
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Holders Ferry is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holders Ferry
  • Laurel Shanty Landing
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Laurel Shanty Landing is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laurel Shanty Landing
  • Malcolm
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Malcolm is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malcolm
  • Manns Ferry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Manns Ferry is located in Choctaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manns Ferry
  • Seaboard
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Seaboard is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seaboard
  • Silver Landing
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Silver Landing is located in Baldwin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Landing
  • Sunflower
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Sunflower is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunflower

How Far From McIntosh to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a town such as McIntosh to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Chatom, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from McIntosh to Chatom, 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 127 miles [204.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 813 miles [1,308.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 47 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,711 miles [10,800.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,414 miles [11,931.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,292 miles [8,516.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- McIntosh) 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 McIntosh 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 McIntosh 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 McIntosh. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.2650, Longitude: -88.0283       In this case, the coordinates for McIntosh have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.238 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.629 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.22 degrees.