RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Georgia >> Tattnall County >> Altamaha >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Altamaha, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Altamaha 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 Altamaha:
    • 31.961587, -82.207345
    • 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 Altamaha
  • 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 Tattnall County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tattnall County
    • Since Altamaha is near Appling County and also Toombs County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Appling County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Toombs 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 Altamaha

Communities Also Named Altamaha ...

We found one communities that are also named Altamaha.

There is one other community in Georgia that is also named Altamaha.

Beyond Georgia.

  • Communities Located In Georgia ...
    • McIntosh 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 Altamaha [McIntosh County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Altamaha ...

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.

  • Cedar Crossing
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Cedar Crossing is located in Toombs County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Crossing
  • English Eddy
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • English Eddy is located in Toombs County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for English Eddy
  • Falling Rocks
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Falling Rocks is located in Appling County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falling Rocks
  • Five Points
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Five Points is located in Tattnall County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Grays Landing
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Grays Landing is located in Toombs County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays Landing
  • Lynn
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Lynn is located in Tattnall County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynn
  • Manns Ferry
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Manns Ferry is located in Jeff Davis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manns Ferry
  • Piney Bluff Ferry
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Piney Bluff Ferry is located in Appling County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Bluff Ferry
  • Rock Springs
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Rock Springs is located in Toombs County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Springs
  • Spring Branch
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Spring Branch is located in Appling County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Branch
  • Zion
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Zion is located in Appling County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion

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

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

  • Reidsville, which is the Seat of Tattnall County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Altamaha to Reidsville, 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.
  • Atlanta, which is the State Capital of Georgia, lies 177 miles [284.9 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 560 miles [901.2 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 22 days and walking would take 32 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,426 miles [10,341.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,114 miles [11,448.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,999 miles [8,045.1 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Altamaha 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Altamaha) 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 Altamaha 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 Altamaha. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.9616, Longitude: -82.2073       In this case, the coordinates for Altamaha have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.929 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.899 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.902 degrees.