RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Pike County >> Mossy Grove >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mossy Grove, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mossy Grove 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 Mossy Grove:
    • 31.754603, -85.959950
    • 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 Mossy Grove
  • 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 Pike County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pike County
    • Since Mossy Grove is near Coffee County and also Crenshaw County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Coffee County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Crenshaw 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 Mossy Grove

Communities Also Named Mossy Grove ...

We found two communities that are also named Mossy Grove.

Within Alabama, the name Mossy Grove is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Tennessee
      • Morgan 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 Tennessee community of Mossy Grove [Morgan County].
    • Texas
      • Walker County
      • This Mossy Grove is located in Walker County and lies 580 miles [933.4 km]<2> to the west of the Mossy Grove that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Walker County community of Mossy Grove.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mossy Grove ...

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.

  • Allred
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Allred is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allred
  • College Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • College Park is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Park
  • Elmhill Plantation
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Elmhill Plantation is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmhill Plantation
  • Forest Circle
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Forest Circle is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Circle
  • Green Oaks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Green Oaks is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Oaks
  • Heritage Ridge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Heritage Ridge is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Ridge
  • Little Oak
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Little Oak is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Oak
  • Meadow Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Meadow Grove is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Grove
  • Mountainbrook
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Mountainbrook is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountainbrook
  • Sanders Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Sanders Hill is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanders Hill
  • Trojan Terrace
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Trojan Terrace is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trojan Terrace

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

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

  • Troy, which is the Seat of Pike County, lies just to the North.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 47 miles [75.6 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from Mossy Grove to Montgomery, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 703 miles [1,131.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 40 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,599 miles [10,620.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,298 miles [11,745 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,178 miles [8,333.2 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Mossy Grove 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 '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- Mossy Grove) 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 Mossy Grove 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 Mossy Grove. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.7546, Longitude: -85.9600       In this case, the coordinates for Mossy Grove have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.06 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.331 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.336 degrees.