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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Brooks Acres, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Brooks 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 Brooks Acres:
    • 34.834809, -87.505303
    • 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 Brooks 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 Lauderdale County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lauderdale County
    • Since Brooks Acres is near Colbert County and also Lawrence County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Colbert County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence 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 Brooks Acres

Curious and Interesting Names Near Brooks 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.

  • Aqua Vista
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Aqua Vista is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aqua Vista
  • Big Oak
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Big Oak is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Oak
  • Center Star
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Center Star is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Star
  • Emerald Shores
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Emerald Shores is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emerald Shores
  • Ford City
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Ford City is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ford City
  • Hideaway Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hideaway Hills is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hideaway Hills
  • Houstontown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Houstontown is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Houstontown
  • Kingman ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Kingman is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingman
  • Lake Coves
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Lake Coves is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Coves
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Lakeview
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Lakeview is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
    • Lakeview Heights
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Lakeview Heights is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Heights
    • Lock Six
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Lock Six is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lock Six
    • Paradise Points
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Paradise Points is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise Points
    • Sky Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Sky Park is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sky Park
    • Virginia Shores
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Virginia Shores is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Shores

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Brooks Acres and extending to:

  • Florence, which is the Seat of Lauderdale County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Brooks Acres to Florence, with an average speed<2> 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 183 miles [294.5 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 642 miles [1,033.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,517 miles [10,488.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,233 miles [11,640.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,108 miles [8,220.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

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- Brooks Acres) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Brooks 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 Brooks Acres. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.8348, Longitude: -87.5053       In this case, the coordinates for Brooks Acres have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.181 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.052 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.301 degrees.