RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Tuscaloosa County >> Alpine Hills >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Alpine Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Alpine Hills 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 Alpine Hills:
    • 33.166786, -87.498060
    • 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 Alpine Hills
  • 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 Tuscaloosa County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tuscaloosa County
    • Since Alpine Hills is near Hale County and also Bibb County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hale County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bibb 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 Alpine Hills

Communities Also Named Alpine Hills ...

We found three communities that are also named Alpine Hills.

There is one other community in Alabama that is also named Alpine Hills.

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

  • Communities Located In Alabama ...
    • Mobile County
      • This Alpine Hills is located in Mobile County and lies 174 miles [280 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Alpine Hills that is located in Tuscaloosa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mobile County community of Alpine Hills.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • San Mateo 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 California community of Alpine Hills [San Mateo County].
    • Virginia
      • Roanoke County
      • This Alpine Hills is located in Roanoke County and lies 513 miles [825.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Alpine Hills that is located in Tuscaloosa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke County community of Alpine Hills.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Alpine Hills ...

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.

  • Box Springs
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Box Springs is located in Tuscaloosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Box Springs
  • Cedar Crest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedar Crest is located in Tuscaloosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Crest
  • Cedar Knoll
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Cedar Knoll is located in Tuscaloosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Knoll
  • Cherokee Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Cherokee Hills is located in Tuscaloosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee Hills
  • Cherry Dale
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Cherry Dale is located in Tuscaloosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Dale
  • Cottonwood Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Cottonwood Park is located in Tuscaloosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood Park
  • Coventry
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Coventry is located in Tuscaloosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coventry
  • Echo Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Echo Hill is located in Tuscaloosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo Hill
  • Fairway Drive
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Fairway Drive is located in Tuscaloosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairway Drive
  • Forest Lake
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Forest Lake is located in Tuscaloosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Lake
  • Hickory Forest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Hickory Forest is located in Tuscaloosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Forest
  • High Point
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • High Point is located in Tuscaloosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Point
  • Continue List   (18 more) ...
    • Hillswood
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Hillswood is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillswood
    • Jerusalem Heights
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Jerusalem Heights is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerusalem Heights
    • Lake Shore
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Lake Shore is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Shore
    • Lynn Haven
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Lynn Haven is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynn Haven
    • Meadowbrook
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Meadowbrook is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
    • Peach Grove
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Peach Grove is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peach Grove
    • Rosewood
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Rosewood is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosewood
    • Running Brook
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Running Brook is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Running Brook
    • Sky Ranch
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Sky Ranch is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sky Ranch
    • Skyland Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Skyland Park is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skyland Park
    • South Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • South Park is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Park
    • Springbrook
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Springbrook is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springbrook
    • Stokes
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Stokes is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stokes
    • University
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • University is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University
    • Whispering Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Whispering Hills is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whispering Hills
    • Woodland Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Woodland Park is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Park
    • Woodland Pines
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Woodland Pines is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Pines
    • Woodland Terrace
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Woodland Terrace is located in Tuscaloosa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Terrace

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

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

  • Tuscaloosa, which is the Seat of Tuscaloosa County, lies just to the Northwest.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 88 miles [141.6 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Alpine Hills to Montgomery, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 704 miles [1,133 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 40 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,597 miles [10,616.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,307 miles [11,759.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,183 miles [8,341.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Alpine Hills) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Alpine Hills 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>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 Alpine Hills 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 Alpine Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.1668, Longitude: -87.4981       In this case, the coordinates for Alpine Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.072 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.697 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.649 degrees.