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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Pine Flat, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Pine Flat 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 Pine Flat:
    • 32.654297, -86.431086
    • 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 Pine Flat
  • 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 Pine Flat is near Elmore County and also Chilton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Elmore County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chilton 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 Pine Flat

Communities Also Named Pine Flat ...

We found four communities that are also named Pine Flat.

Within Alabama, the name Pine Flat is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Tulare County
      • This Pine Flat is located in Tulare County and lies 1,843 miles [2,966 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Pine Flat that is located in Autauga County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tulare County community of Pine Flat.
    • Kentucky
      • Jackson County
      • This Pine Flat is located in Jackson County and lies 352 miles [566.5 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Pine Flat that is located in Autauga County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Pine Flat.
    • Mississippi
      • Lafayette 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 Mississippi community of Pine Flat [Lafayette County].
      • Tishomingo County
      • This Pine Flat is located in Tishomingo County and lies 192 miles [309 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Pine Flat that is located in Autauga County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tishomingo County community of Pine Flat.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Pine Flat ...

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.

  • Cold Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Cold Springs is located in Elmore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Springs
  • Knights Ferry
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Knights Ferry is located in Chilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knights Ferry
  • Lightwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Lightwood is located in Elmore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lightwood
  • Mountain Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Mountain Creek is located in Chilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Creek
  • Nobles Ferry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Nobles Ferry is located in Elmore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nobles Ferry
  • Oak Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Oak Grove is located in Autauga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Pine Level
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Pine Level is located in Autauga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Level
  • Poseys Crossroads
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Poseys Crossroads is located in Autauga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poseys Crossroads
  • Stoney Point
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Stoney Point is located in Autauga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoney Point

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

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

  • Prattville, which is the Seat of Autauga County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Pine Flat to Prattville, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours 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 20 miles [32.2 km] to the south southeast (SSE). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 679 miles [1,092.7 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 39 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,577 miles [10,584.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,281 miles [11,717.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,159 miles [8,302.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Pine Flat) 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 Pine Flat 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 Pine Flat 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 Pine Flat. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.6543, Longitude: -86.4311       In this case, the coordinates for Pine Flat have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.399 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.848 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.332 degrees.