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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Wards Mill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wards Mill 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 Wards Mill:
    • 32.971513, -85.343836
    • 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 Wards Mill
  • 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 Wards Mill is near Cherokee County and also Troup 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 Troup 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 Wards Mill

Communities Also Named Wards Mill ...

We found four communities that are also named Wards Mill.

Within Alabama, the name Wards Mill is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Louisiana
      • Claiborne Parish
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Wards Mill [Claiborne Parish].
    • North Carolina
      • Onslow 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 North Carolina community of Wards Mill [Onslow County].
    • Virginia
      • Carroll 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 Virginia community of Wards Mill [Carroll County].
      • Lee County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Wards Mill [Lee County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Wards Mill ...

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.

  • Bacon Level
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Bacon Level is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bacon Level
  • Buffalo
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Buffalo is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo
  • Chapel Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
  • Clackville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Clackville is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clackville
  • Doublehead
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Doublehead is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doublehead
  • Five Points
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Five Points is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 137 people
  • High Pine
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • High Pine is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Pine
  • Little Shawmut
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Little Shawmut is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Shawmut
  • Long Cane
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Long Cane is located in Troup County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Cane
  • Milltown
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Milltown is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milltown
  • Red Level
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Red Level is located in Chambers County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Level
  • River Trace
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • River Trace is located in Troup County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Trace
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Rock Fence
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Rock Fence is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Fence
    • Standing Rock
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Standing Rock is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Standing Rock
    • Timber Ridge
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Timber Ridge is located in Troup County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timber Ridge
    • Turkey Point
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Turkey Point is located in Troup County (GA)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Point
    • Union Hill
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Union Hill is located in Chambers County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill

How Far From Wards Mill to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Wards Mill to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Wards Mill and extending to:

  • LaFayette, which is the Seat of Chambers County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 69 miles [111 km]<3> to the southwest (SW). If you could walk a straight line from Wards Mill to Montgomery, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 618 miles [994.6 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,516 miles [10,486.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,218 miles [11,616.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,096 miles [8,201.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Wards Mill, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Wards Mill 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>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- Wards Mill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Wards Mill 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 Wards Mill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.9715, Longitude: -85.3438       In this case, the coordinates for Wards Mill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.777 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.173 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.84 degrees.