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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ascalon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ascalon and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Ascalon:
    • 34.839522, -85.424683
    • 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 Ascalon
  • 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 Walker County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Walker County
    • Since Ascalon is near Dade County and also Jackson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dade County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson 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 Ascalon

Communities Also Named Ascalon ...

We found four communities that are also named Ascalon.

Within Georgia, the name Ascalon is unique.

Beyond Georgia, we know of four communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, three are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Cheyenne 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 Colorado community of Ascalon [Cheyenne County].
    • Missouri
      • Saint Louis County
      • This Ascalon is located in Saint Louis County and lies 383 miles [616.4 km]<2> to the northwest of the Ascalon that is located in Walker County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis County community of Ascalon.
    • Nevada
      • Pershing County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Pershing County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pershing County community of Ascalon.
    • Ontario
      • This Ascalon lies 849 miles [1,366.3 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Ascalon that is located in Walker County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ascalon ...

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.

  • Cassandra
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Cassandra is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cassandra
  • Cedar Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Cedar Hill is located in Dade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Hill
  • Frick Gap ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Frick Gap is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frick Gap
  • Hall Mill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Hall Mill is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hall Mill
  • Haysville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Haysville is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haysville
  • Henrys ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Henrys is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henrys
  • High Point
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • High Point is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Point
  • Jamesburg
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jamesburg is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamesburg
  • New England
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • New England is located in Dade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New England
  • Plum Nelly
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Plum Nelly is located in Dade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum Nelly
  • Pond Spring
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Pond Spring is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pond Spring
  • Union
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Union is located in Dade County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union

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

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

  • LaFayette, which is the Seat of Walker County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Ascalon to LaFayette, with an average speed<4> 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.
  • Atlanta, which is the State Capital of Georgia, lies 95 miles [152.9 km] to the southeast (SE). 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 541 miles [870.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 22 days and walking would take 31 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,431 miles [10,349.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,142 miles [11,493.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,018 miles [8,075.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Ascalon 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Ascalon) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Ascalon, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Ascalon 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 Ascalon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.8395, Longitude: -85.4247       In this case, the coordinates for Ascalon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.915 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.593 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.439 degrees.