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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Melton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Melton 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 Melton:
    • 32.740131, -87.683342
    • 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 Melton
  • 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 Hale County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hale County
    • Since Melton is near Greene County and also Perry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greene County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Perry 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 Melton

Communities Also Named Melton ...

We found eight communities that are also named Melton.

Within Alabama, the name Melton is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Richmond County
      • This Melton is located in Richmond County and lies 327 miles [526.3 km]<1> to the east of the Melton that is located in Hale County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richmond County community of Melton.
    • Iowa
      • Worth 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 Iowa community of Melton [Worth County].
    • Manitoba
      • We haven't found the location of this community yet.
    • Mississippi
      • Jefferson County
      • This Melton is located in Jefferson County and lies 207 miles [333.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Melton that is located in Hale County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Melton.
    • Missouri
      • Benton 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 Missouri community of Melton [Benton County].
      • Reynolds County
      • This Melton is located in Reynolds County and lies 379 miles [609.9 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Melton that is located in Hale County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Reynolds County community of Melton.
    • New Jersey
      • Middlesex 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 New Jersey community of Melton [Middlesex County].
    • Texas
      • Hunt 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 Melton [Hunt County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Melton ...

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.

  • Birdeye
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Birdeye is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birdeye
  • Cedarville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Cedarville is located in Hale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarville
  • Chiles Ferry
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Chiles Ferry is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chiles Ferry
  • Forkland
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Forkland is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forkland
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 583 people
  • Harper Hill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Harper Hill is located in Hale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harper Hill
  • Havana
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Havana is located in Hale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
  • Jennings Ferry
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jennings Ferry is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jennings Ferry
  • Lock Five
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Lock Five is located in Hale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lock Five
  • Merryweathers Ferry
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Merryweathers Ferry is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merryweathers Ferry
  • Oak Grove
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Oak Grove is located in Hale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Rocky Ford
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Rocky Ford is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ford
  • Roe Landing
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Roe Landing is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roe Landing
  • Rosemary
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Rosemary is located in Hale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosemary

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

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

  • Greensboro, which is the Seat of Hale County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 84 miles [135.2 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Melton to Montgomery, with an average speed<3>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 731 miles [1,176.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 42 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,625 miles [10,661.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,334 miles [11,802.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,210 miles [8,384.7 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- Melton) 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 Melton 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 Melton 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 Melton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.7401, Longitude: -87.6833       In this case, the coordinates for Melton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.153 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.732 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.808 degrees.