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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Orrville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Orrville 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 Orrville:
    • 32.306630, -87.245709
    • 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 Orrville
  • 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 Dallas County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dallas County
    • Since Orrville is near Wilcox County and also Perry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wilcox 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 Orrville

Communities Also Named Orrville ...

We found ten communities that are also named Orrville.

There is one other community in Alabama that is also named Orrville.

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

  • Communities Located In Alabama ...
    • Limestone County
      • This Orrville is located in Limestone County and lies 163 miles [262.3 km]<1> to the north of the Orrville that is located in Dallas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Limestone County community of Orrville.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Jackson 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 Georgia community of Orrville [Jackson County].
    • Indiana
      • Knox County
      • This Orrville is located in Knox County and lies 425 miles [684 km]<1> to the north of the Orrville that is located in Dallas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Knox County community of Orrville.
    • Manitoba
      • We haven't found the location of this community yet.
    • Missouri
      • Saint Louis County
      • This Orrville is located in Saint Louis County and lies 477 miles [767.7 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Orrville that is located in Dallas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis County community of Orrville.
    • Ohio
      • Wayne County
      • This Orrville is located in Wayne County and lies 662 miles [1,065.4 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Orrville that is located in Dallas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of Orrville.
    • Ontario
      • This Orrville lies 987 miles [1,588.4 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Orrville that is located in Dallas County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Allegheny 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 Pennsylvania community of Orrville [Allegheny County].
    • South Carolina
      • Anderson 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 South Carolina community of Orrville [Anderson County].
    • Texas
      • Marion 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 Orrville [Marion County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Orrville ...

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.

  • Alberta
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Alberta is located in Wilcox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alberta
  • Crumptonia
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Crumptonia is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crumptonia
  • Donald
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Donald is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donald
  • Eleanor
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Eleanor is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eleanor
  • Five Points
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Five Points is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Fortune Ferry
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Fortune Ferry is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fortune Ferry
  • King's Landing
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • King's Landing is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for King's Landing
  • Marion Junction
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Marion Junction is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marion Junction
  • Marshall
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Marshall is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall
  • Martin
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Martin is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin
  • Pinebelt
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Pinebelt is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinebelt
  • Tasso
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Tasso is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tasso

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

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

  • Selma, which is the Seat of Dallas County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Orrville to Selma, with an average speed<3> 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 four to five hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 55 miles [88.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking 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 6,628 miles [10,666.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,333 miles [11,801.3 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 '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- Orrville) 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 Orrville 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 Orrville 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 Orrville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.3066, Longitude: -87.2457       In this case, the coordinates for Orrville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.859 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.331 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.721 degrees.