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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Otho, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Otho 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 Otho:
    • 31.689610, -85.129653
    • 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 Otho
  • 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 Henry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henry County
    • Since Otho is near Clay County and also Barbour County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clay County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Barbour 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 Otho

Communities Also Named Otho ...

We found five communities that are also named Otho.

Within Alabama, the name Otho is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Webster County
      • This Otho is located in Webster County and lies 891 miles [1,433.9 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Otho that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Webster County community of Otho.
    • Kentucky
      • Fleming 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 Kentucky community of Otho [Fleming County].
    • Mississippi
      • Scott County
      • This Otho is located in Scott County and lies 253 miles [407.2 km]<1> to the west of the Otho that is located in Henry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Scott County community of Otho.
    • Ohio
      • Morgan County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Otho [Morgan County].
    • Texas
      • Gonzales 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 Otho [Gonzales County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Otho ...

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.

  • Cotton Hill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Cotton Hill is located in Clay County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotton Hill
  • Days Crossroads
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Days Crossroads is located in Clay County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Days Crossroads
  • Jones Crossing
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Jones Crossing is located in Clay County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones Crossing
  • Pecan
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Pecan is located in Clay County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pecan
  • Pleasant Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Pleasant Hill is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
  • Richards Crossroads
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Richards Crossroads is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richards Crossroads
  • Sandy Point
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Sandy Point is located in Barbour County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Point
  • Screamer
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Screamer is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Screamer
  • Shorterville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Shorterville is located in Henry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shorterville

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

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

  • Abbeville, which is the Seat of Henry County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Otho to Abbeville, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 83 miles [133.6 km] to the northwest (NW). 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 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 674 miles [1,084.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,567 miles [10,568.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,263 miles [11,688.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,144 miles [8,278.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Otho) 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 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 Otho 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>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 Otho, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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.
<5>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 Otho 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 Otho. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.6896, Longitude: -85.1297       In this case, the coordinates for Otho have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.574 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.76 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.037 degrees.