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 Alva:
36.735086, -83.424354
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.
We found eleven communities that share the name Alva.
Within Kentucky, the name Alva is unique.
Beyond Kentucky, we know of another eleven communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these eleven communities, nine are located in the United States and two are in Canada.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Florida
Lee County
This Alva is located in Lee County and lies 699 miles [1,124.9 km]<1> to the south of the Alva that is located in Harlan County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lee County community of Alva.
Georgia
Jasper 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 Georgia community of Alva [Jasper County].
Kansas
Cloud County
This community is historic<3> and although located in Cloud County, we don't know where within the county.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cloud County community of Alva.
Mississippi
Montgomery County
This Alva is located in Montgomery County and lies 404 miles [650.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Alva that is located in Harlan County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Alva.
Webster 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 Mississippi community of Alva [Webster County].
Missouri
Boone 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 Missouri community of Alva [Boone County].
Oklahoma
Woods County
This Alva is located in Woods County and lies 842 miles [1,355.1 km]<1> to the west of the Alva that is located in Harlan County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Woods County community of Alva.
Ontario
This Alva lies 712 miles [1,145.9 km]<1> to the north of the Alva that is located in Harlan County.
Quebec
This Alva lies 803 miles [1,292.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Alva that is located in Harlan County.
Wisconsin
Jackson 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 Wisconsin community of Alva [Jackson County].
Wyoming
Crook County
This Alva is located in Crook County and lies 1,224 miles [1,969.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Alva that is located in Harlan County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Crook County community of Alva.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Alva ...
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.
Black Snake (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Black Snake have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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 Alva to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Alva and extending to:
Harlan, which is the Seat of Harlan County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Alva to Harlan, with an average speed<6> 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.
Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 128 miles [206 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 378 miles [608.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,261 miles [10,076.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,973 miles [11,222 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,848 miles [7,802.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Footnotes ...
<1>
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 from Point A (ie- Alva) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Alva. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.7351, Longitude: -83.4244 In this case, the coordinates for Alva have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 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 Alva 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>
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 Alva, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>
The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<5>
While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<6>
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.
<7>
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 Alva to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.755 degrees.
<9>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.529 degrees.
<10>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.114 degrees.