RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Jefferson County >> Avon Park >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Avon Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Avon Park 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 Avon Park:
    • 33.546216, -86.771379
    • 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 Avon Park
  • 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Avon Park is near Shelby County and also Blount County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Blount 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 Avon Park

Communities Also Named Avon Park ...

We found six communities that are also named Avon Park.

Within Alabama, the name Avon Park is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Broward County
      • This Avon Park is located in Broward County and lies 649 miles [1,044.5 km]<1> to the southeast of the Avon Park that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Broward County community of Avon Park.
      • Highlands County
      • This Avon Park is located in Highlands County and lies 516 miles [830.4 km] to the southeast of the Avon Park that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Highlands County community of Avon Park.
    • Georgia
      • Chatham County
      • This Avon Park is located in Chatham County and lies 347 miles [558.4 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Avon Park that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chatham County community of Avon Park.
    • New Jersey
      • Middlesex County
      • This Avon Park is located in Middlesex County and lies 836 miles [1,345.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the Avon Park that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Middlesex County community of Avon Park.
    • Ohio
      • Trumbull 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 Ohio community of Avon Park [Trumbull County].
    • Texas
      • McLennan 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 Texas community of Avon Park [McLennan County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Avon Park ...

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.

  • Airport Highlands
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Airport Highlands is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Airport Highlands
  • Danville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Danville is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danville
  • English Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • English Village is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for English Village
  • Five Points East
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Five Points East is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points East
  • Five Points South
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Five Points South is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points South
  • Forest Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Forest Park is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Park
  • Gate City
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Gate City is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gate City
  • Holiday Gardens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Holiday Gardens is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Gardens
  • Kingsway Terrace
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Kingsway Terrace is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsway Terrace
  • Lewisburg
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Lewisburg is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewisburg
  • Marks Village
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Marks Village is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marks Village
  • Mountain Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Mountain Park is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Park
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Plain View
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Plain View is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plain View
    • Trotwood Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Trotwood Park is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trotwood Park
    • Village Creek
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Village Creek is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Village Creek
    • Vulcan City
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Vulcan City is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vulcan City
    • Woodlawn
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Woodlawn is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn
    • Woodlawn Heights
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Woodlawn Heights is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn Heights
    • Zion City
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Zion City is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion City
    • Zion Heights
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Zion Heights is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion Heights

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

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

  • Birmingham, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 85 miles [136.8 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Avon Park 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 655 miles [1,054.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 38 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,549 miles [10,539.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,258 miles [11,680.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,134 miles [8,262.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Avon Park) 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 Avon Park 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 Avon Park 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 Avon Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.5462, Longitude: -86.7714       In this case, the coordinates for Avon Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.659 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.272 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.278 degrees.