Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Bluff, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bluff and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Bluff
- 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 Bluff:
- 33.820662, -87.906413
- 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 Bluff
- 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 Fayette County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Fayette County
- Since Bluff is near Lamar County and also Marion County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Lamar County
- eBird sighting report for Marion 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 Bluff ...
We found twelve communities that share the name Bluff.
Within Alabama, the name Bluff is unique.
Beyond Alabama, we know of another twelve communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these twelve communities, twelve are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alaska
- This Bluff lies 3,231 miles [5,199.8 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Bluff that is located in Fayette County.
- Georgia
- Kentucky
- Mississippi
- New Brunswick
- This Bluff lies 1,496 miles [2,407.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Bluff that is located in Fayette County.
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
- Utah
- West Virginia
- Alaska
Curious and Interesting Names Near Bluff ...
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.
- Blooming Grove
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blooming Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blooming Grove
- Blooming Grove is located in Lamar County
- Bobo
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast) - Cedar Hill
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Hill
- Cedar Hill is located in Fayette County
- Crews
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest) - Crossville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crossville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossville
- Crossville is located in Lamar County
- Glen Allen
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Allen
- Glen Allen is located in Fayette County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 480 people
- Moscow
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west) - Tucker
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast) - Wayside
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
How Far From Bluff to ...
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 Bluff to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Bluff and extending to:
- Fayette, which is the Seat of Fayette County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Bluff to Fayette, with an average speed<5> 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.
- Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 136 miles [218.9 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 698 miles [1,123.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 40 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,582 miles [10,592.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,296 miles [11,741.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,171 miles [8,321.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Bluff. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Alabama: https://www.alabama.gov/
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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Bluff) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bluff. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.8207, Longitude: -87.9064 In this case, the coordinates for Bluff have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 Bluff, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 Bluff 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. |
| <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 Bluff 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 314.365 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.126 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.682 degrees. |