RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Chambers County >> Rock Fence >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rock Fence, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rock Fence 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 Rock Fence:
    • 33.036234, -85.438561
    • 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 Rock Fence
  • 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 Chambers County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chambers County
    • Since Rock Fence is near Cherokee County and also Randolph County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cherokee County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Randolph 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 Rock Fence

Communities Also Named Rock Fence ...

We found one communities that are also named Rock Fence.

Within Alabama, the name Rock Fence is unique.

Beyond Alabama, there is another community also named Rock Fence in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Elbert County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Rock Fence [Elbert County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rock Fence ...

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.

  • Blake
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Blake is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blake
  • Buffalo
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Buffalo is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo
  • Chapel Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
  • Clackville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Clackville is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clackville
  • Doublehead
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Doublehead is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doublehead
  • Five Points
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Five Points is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 137 people
  • High Pine
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • High Pine is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Pine
  • Milltown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Milltown is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milltown
  • Red Level
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Red Level is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Level
  • Union Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Union Hill is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill
  • Wait Ferry
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Wait Ferry is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wait Ferry

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Rock Fence and extending to:

  • LaFayette, which is the Seat of Chambers County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Rock Fence to LaFayette, with an average speed<3> 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 67 miles [107.8 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 619 miles [996.2 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,517 miles [10,488.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,220 miles [11,619.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,098 miles [8,204.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Rock Fence 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.
<2>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Rock Fence) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Rock Fence 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 Rock Fence. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.0362, Longitude: -85.4386       In this case, the coordinates for Rock Fence have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.836 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.25 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.862 degrees.