RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Autauga County >> Old Kingston >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Old Kingston, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Old Kingston 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 Old Kingston:
    • 32.573744, -86.600813
    • 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 Old Kingston
  • 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 Autauga County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Autauga County
    • Since Old Kingston is near Chilton County and also Elmore County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chilton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Elmore 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 Old Kingston

Curious and Interesting Names Near Old Kingston ...

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.

  • Booth
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Booth is located in Autauga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Booth
  • Evergreen
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Evergreen is located in Autauga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
  • Hunting Ridge
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Hunting Ridge is located in Autauga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunting Ridge
  • Independence
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Independence is located in Autauga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence
  • Live Oaks
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Live Oaks is located in Autauga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Live Oaks
  • Mulberry
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Mulberry is located in Chilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mulberry
  • Oak Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Oak Grove is located in Autauga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Pine Level
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Pine Level is located in Autauga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Level
  • Poseys Crossroads
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Poseys Crossroads is located in Autauga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poseys Crossroads
  • Stoney Point
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Stoney Point is located in Autauga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoney Point

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Old Kingston and extending to:

  • Prattville, which is the Seat of Autauga County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Old Kingston to Prattville, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast (SE). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 690 miles [1,110.4 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 27 days and walking would take 40 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,588 miles [10,602.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,292 miles [11,735.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,170 miles [8,320.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Old Kingston) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Old Kingston 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 Old Kingston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.5737, Longitude: -86.6008       In this case, the coordinates for Old Kingston have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.494 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.947 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.415 degrees.