RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Coffee County >> Briarhill Acres >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Briarhill Acres, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Briarhill Acres 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 Briarhill Acres:
    • 31.332115, -85.834382
    • 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 Briarhill Acres
  • 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 Coffee County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Coffee County
    • Since Briarhill Acres is near Dale County and also Geneva County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dale County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Geneva 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 Briarhill Acres

Curious and Interesting Names Near Briarhill Acres ...

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.

  • Enterprise
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Forest Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Forest Park is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Park
  • Foxhill
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Foxhill is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxhill
  • Green Acres
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Green Acres is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Griffin Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Griffin Heights is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Griffin Heights
  • Heritage Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Heritage Heights is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Heights
  • Hillcrest
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Hillcrest is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
  • Honeysuckle Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Honeysuckle Hills is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honeysuckle Hills
  • Indian Lakes
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Indian Lakes is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Lakes
  • Indian Springs
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Indian Springs is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Springs
  • Indigo
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Indigo is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indigo
  • Olivers Lake
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Olivers Lake is located in Coffee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olivers Lake
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Regency Heights
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Regency Heights is located in Coffee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency Heights
    • Shell Heights
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Shell Heights is located in Coffee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Heights
    • Singing Brook
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Singing Brook is located in Coffee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Singing Brook
    • Valley Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Valley Hills is located in Coffee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Hills
    • Willow Bend
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Willow Bend is located in Coffee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Bend

How Far From Briarhill Acres 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 Briarhill Acres to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Briarhill Acres and extending to:

  • Elba, which is the Seat of Coffee County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Briarhill Acres to Elba, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 77 miles [123.9 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 720 miles [1,158.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,614 miles [10,644.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,311 miles [11,765.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,191 miles [8,354.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Briarhill Acres) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Briarhill Acres 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 Briarhill Acres. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.3321, Longitude: -85.8344       In this case, the coordinates for Briarhill Acres have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.956 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.153 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.374 degrees.