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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Turkestan, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Turkestan 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 Turkestan:
    • 31.776821, -87.154986
    • 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 Turkestan
  • 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 Monroe County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe County
    • Since Turkestan is near Wilcox County and also Conecuh County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wilcox County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Conecuh 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 Turkestan

Curious and Interesting Names Near Turkestan ...

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.

  • Chestnut
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Chestnut is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut
  • Harpers Store
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Harpers Store is located in Conecuh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harpers Store
  • Old Texas
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Old Texas is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Texas
  • Pine Apple
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Pine Apple is located in Wilcox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Apple
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 129 people
  • Pine Apple Station
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Pine Apple Station is located in Wilcox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Apple Station
  • Pine Orchard
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Pine Orchard is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Orchard
  • Rosebud
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Rosebud is located in Wilcox County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosebud
  • Scotland
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Scotland is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scotland
  • Tunnel Springs
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Tunnel Springs is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tunnel Springs
    • Former name for Tunnel Springs:
    • Kempsville

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<1> community of Turkestan once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Turkestan and extending to:

  • Monroeville, which is the Seat of Monroe County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<2> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Turkestan to Monroeville, with an average speed<3> 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 64 miles [103 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 751 miles [1,208.6 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 7,352 miles [11,831.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,230 miles [8,416.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Turkestan, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Turkestan) 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 Turkestan 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 Turkestan. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.7768, Longitude: -87.1550       In this case, the coordinates for Turkestan have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.763 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.149 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.788 degrees.