Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Alabama, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Alabama and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Alabama
- 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 Alabama:
- 43.096417, -78.390974
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Alabama
- 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 Genesee County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Genesee County
- Since Alabama is near Orleans County and also Erie County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Orleans County
- eBird sighting report for Erie 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Alabama ...
We found five communities that share the name Alabama.
Within New York, the name Alabama is unique.
Beyond New York, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Nevada
- Texas
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Alabama ...
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.
- Brick House Corners
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brick House Corners have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brick House Corners
- Brick House Corners is located in Genesee County
- Cookville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast) - Five Corners
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Five Corners have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Corners
- Five Corners is located in Genesee County
- Gilberts Corner
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gilberts Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilberts Corner
- Gilberts Corner is located in Niagara County
- Indian Falls
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Falls have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Falls
- Indian Falls is located in Genesee County
- Sand Hill
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west) - Swifts Mills
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Swifts Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swifts Mills
- Swifts Mills is located in Erie County
- Wheatville
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheatville
- Wheatville is located in Genesee County
- Wheatville Station
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wheatville Station have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheatville Station
- Wheatville Station is located in Genesee County
How Far From Alabama 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 Alabama to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Alabama and extending to:
- Batavia, which is the Seat of Genesee County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Alabama to Batavia, with an average speed<5> 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.
- Albany, which is the State Capital of New York, lies 236 miles [379.8 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 298 miles [479.6 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,774 miles [9,292.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,499 miles [10,459.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,375 miles [7,040.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Alabama. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Genesee County: www.co.genesee.ny.us/
The official website for State of New York: https://www.ny.gov/
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 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 Alabama 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 from Point A (ie- Alabama) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Alabama. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.0964, Longitude: -78.3910 |
| <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 Alabama, 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 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. |
| <6> | 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 Alabama to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.401 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.673 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.639 degrees. |