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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Panola, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Panola 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 Panola:
    • 31.971538, -86.388857
    • 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 Panola
  • 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 Crenshaw County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Crenshaw County
    • Since Panola is near Lowndes County and also Montgomery County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lowndes County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery 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 Panola

Communities Also Named Panola ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Panola.

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

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

  • Communities Located In Alabama ...
    • Sumter County
      • This Panola is located in Sumter County and lies 128 miles [206 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Panola that is located in Crenshaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sumter County community of Panola.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Lonoke 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 Arkansas community of Panola [Lonoke County].
    • Georgia
      • DeKalb County
      • This Panola is located in DeKalb County and lies 172 miles [276.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Panola that is located in Crenshaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the DeKalb County community of Panola.
    • Illinois
      • Woodford County
      • This Panola is located in Woodford County and lies 625 miles [1,005.8 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Panola that is located in Crenshaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Woodford County community of Panola.
    • Kentucky
      • Madison County
      • This Panola is located in Madison County and lies 413 miles [664.7 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Panola that is located in Crenshaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Panola.
    • Louisiana
      • East Carroll Parish
      • This Panola is located in East Carroll Parish and lies 289 miles [465.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Panola that is located in Crenshaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the East Carroll Parish community of Panola.
    • Michigan
      • Iron County
      • This Panola is located in Iron County and lies 977 miles [1,572.3 km]<1> to the north of the Panola that is located in Crenshaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Iron County community of Panola.
    • Minnesota
      • Chisago County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Chisago County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chisago County community of Panola.
    • Oklahoma
      • Latimer County
      • This Panola is located in Latimer County and lies 547 miles [880.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Panola that is located in Crenshaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Latimer County community of Panola.
    • South Carolina
      • Clarendon County
      • This Panola is located in Clarendon County and lies 365 miles [587.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Panola that is located in Crenshaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clarendon County community of Panola.
      • Greenwood 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 Panola [Greenwood County].
    • Texas
      • Panola County
      • This Panola is located in Panola County and lies 450 miles [724.2 km]<1> to the west of the Panola that is located in Crenshaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Panola County community of Panola.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Panola ...

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.

  • Clearview
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Clearview is located in Crenshaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearview
  • Daisy
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Daisy is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daisy
  • Danielsville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Danielsville is located in Crenshaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danielsville
  • Flatwoods
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Flatwoods is located in Lowndes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatwoods
  • Magnolia Shores
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Magnolia Shores is located in Crenshaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia Shores
  • Sandy Ridge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Sandy Ridge is located in Lowndes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Ridge
  • Sellers
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Sellers is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sellers
  • Zion
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Zion is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion

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

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

  • Luverne, which is the Seat of Crenshaw County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Panola to Luverne, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 28 miles [45.1 km] to the north (N). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 710 miles [1,142.6 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 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,607 miles [10,632.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,309 miles [11,762.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,187 miles [8,347.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Panola) 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 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 Panola 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 Panola, 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 Panola 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 Panola. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.9715, Longitude: -86.3889       In this case, the coordinates for Panola have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.327 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.67 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.455 degrees.