RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Marengo County >> Salt Well >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Salt Well, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Salt Well 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 Salt Well:
    • 32.457083, -87.931127
    • 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 Salt Well
  • 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 Marengo County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marengo County
    • Since Salt Well is near Sumter County and also Greene County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sumter County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greene 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 Salt Well

Communities Also Named Salt Well ...

We found three communities that are also named Salt Well.

Within Alabama, the name Salt Well is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Ford 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 Kansas community of Salt Well [Ford County].
    • Kentucky
      • Bath County
      • This Salt Well is located in Bath County and lies 454 miles [730.6 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Salt Well that is located in Marengo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bath County community of Salt Well.
      • Nicholas 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 Kentucky community of Salt Well [Nicholas County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Salt Well ...

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.

  • Baptist Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Baptist Hill is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Baptist Hill
  • Deans Landing
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Deans Landing is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deans Landing
  • Dug Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Dug Hill is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dug Hill
  • Glovers Ferry
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Glovers Ferry is located in Greene County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glovers Ferry
  • Griffins ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Griffins is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Griffins
  • Hall Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Hall Creek is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hall Creek
  • Moscow
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Moscow is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moscow
  • Moscow Ferry
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Moscow Ferry is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moscow Ferry
  • Pin Hook
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Pin Hook is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pin Hook
  • Rockcut
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Rockcut is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockcut
  • Shortleaf
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Shortleaf is located in Marengo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shortleaf

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

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

  • Linden, which is the Seat of Marengo County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Salt Well to Linden, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 95 miles [152.9 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 754 miles [1,213.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,649 miles [10,700.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,357 miles [11,839.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,234 miles [8,423.3 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 Salt Well 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Salt Well) 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 Salt Well 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 Salt Well. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.4571, Longitude: -87.9311       In this case, the coordinates for Salt Well have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.281 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.841 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.962 degrees.