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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Big Ridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Big Ridge 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 Big Ridge:
- 33.744830, -87.236669
- 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 Big Ridge
- 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 Big Ridge is near Jefferson County and also Cullman County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Cullman 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 Big Ridge
Communities Also Named Big Ridge ...
We found four communities that are also named Big Ridge.
Within Alabama, the name Big Ridge is unique.
Beyond Alabama, 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 ...
- Louisiana
- Caldwell Parish
- 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 Louisiana community of Big Ridge [Caldwell Parish].
- Missouri
- New Madrid County
- This Big Ridge is located in New Madrid County and lies 247 miles [397.5 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Big Ridge that is located in Walker County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Madrid County community of Big Ridge.
- North Carolina
- Jackson County
- This Big Ridge is located in Jackson County and lies 256 miles [412 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Big Ridge that is located in Walker County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Big Ridge.
- Nova Scotia
- This Big Ridge lies 1,649 miles [2,653.8 km]<2> to the northeast of the Big Ridge that is located in Walker County.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Big Ridge ...
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.
- America
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- America is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for America
- Barney
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Barney is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barney
- Chapel Hill
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Chapel Hill is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
- Dovertown
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Dovertown is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dovertown
- Frisco Quarters
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Frisco Quarters is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frisco Quarters
- Gobblers Crossing
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Gobblers Crossing is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gobblers Crossing
- Goodsprings
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Goodsprings is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodsprings
- High Level
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- High Level is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Level
- Jasper
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Lynns Park
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Lynns Park is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynns Park
- Mount Hope
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Mount Hope is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
- Pleasant Field
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Pleasant Field is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Field
- Continue List (6 more) ...
- Providence
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Providence is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
- Red Star
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Red Star is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Star
- Ruby ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Ruby is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruby
- Short Camp
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Short Camp is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Short Camp
- Standard
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
- Standard is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Standard
- Union Chapel
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Union Chapel is located in Walker County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Chapel
How Far From Big Ridge 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 Big Ridge to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Big Ridge and extending to:
- Jasper, which is the Seat of Walker County, lies just to the North Northwest.
- Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 108 miles [173.8 km]<2> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Big Ridge to Montgomery, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 669 miles [1,076.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 38 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,559 miles [10,555.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,269 miles [11,698.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,145 miles [8,280.1 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 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 Big Ridge 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Big Ridge) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <3> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Big Ridge 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 Big Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.7448, Longitude: -87.2367 In this case, the coordinates for Big Ridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.953 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.638 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.424 degrees. |
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