Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Minden, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Minden and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Minden
- 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 Minden:
- 33.702323, -86.106084
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Minden
- 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 Calhoun County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Calhoun County
- Since Minden is near Saint Clair County and also Talladega County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Saint Clair County
- eBird sighting report for Talladega 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Minden ...
We found ten communities that share the name Minden.
Within Alabama, the name Minden is unique.
Beyond Alabama, we know of another ten communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these ten communities, nine are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Iowa
- Louisiana
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New York
- Ontario
- This Minden lies 868 miles [1,396.9 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Minden that is located in Calhoun County.
- South Carolina
- Texas
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Minden ...
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.
- Blue Eye ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast) - Boiling Springs
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Boiling Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boiling Springs
- Boiling Springs is located in Calhoun County
- Boozer ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east) - Francis
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast) - Francis Ferry
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Francis Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Francis Ferry
- Francis Ferry is located in Calhoun County
- Greens Mill
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greens Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greens Mill
- Greens Mill is located in Talladega County
- Halls Ferry
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Halls Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls Ferry
- Halls Ferry is located in Talladega County
- Martins Mill
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Martins Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martins Mill
- Martins Mill is located in Talladega County
- Mitchells Ferry
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mitchells Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mitchells Ferry
- Mitchells Ferry is located in Talladega County
- Ragland
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ragland
- Ragland is located in Saint Clair County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,718 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ragland <4>
- Refuge
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south) - Woods Ferry
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woods Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods Ferry
- Woods Ferry is located in Saint Clair County
How Far From Minden 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 community such as Minden to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<5> community of Minden once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Minden and extending to:
- Anniston, which is the Seat of Calhoun County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Minden to Anniston, with an average speed<6> 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 five to six hours.
- Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 92 miles [148.1 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 618 miles [994.6 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,514 miles [10,483.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,221 miles [11,621.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,098 miles [8,204.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Calhoun County: www.calhouncounty.org/
The official website for State of Alabama: https://www.alabama.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Minden) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Minden. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.7023, Longitude: -86.1061 In this case, the coordinates for Minden have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Minden 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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Minden, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Minden to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.27 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.843 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.978 degrees. |