RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Shelby County >> Calera >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Calera, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Calera 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 Calera:
    • 33.103205, -86.753023
    • 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 Calera
  • 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 Shelby County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby County
    • Since Calera is near Chilton County and also Bibb County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chilton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bibb 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 Calera

Communities Also Named Calera ...

We found three communities that are also named Calera.

Within Alabama, the name Calera is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Oklahoma
      • Bryan County
      • This Calera is located in Bryan County and lies 559 miles [899.6 km]<1> to the west of the Calera that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bryan County community of Calera.
    • Texas
      • Reeves County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Reeves County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Reeves County community of Calera.
    • Virginia
      • Botetourt County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Calera [Botetourt County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Calera ...

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.

  • Dry Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Dry Valley is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Valley
  • Glen Forest
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Glen Forest is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Forest
  • Ivanhoe
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Ivanhoe is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanhoe
  • Longview
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Longview is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview
  • Meadow Green
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Meadow Green is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Green
  • Mission Hills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Mission Hills is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Hills
  • Oak Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Oak Grove is located in Chilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Roberta
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Roberta is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roberta
  • Springs Junction
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Springs Junction is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springs Junction
  • Stems
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Stems is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stems
  • Valley Junction
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Valley Junction is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Junction

How Far From Calera 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 city such as Calera to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Columbiana, which is the Seat of Shelby County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Calera to Columbiana, with an average speed<4> 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 56 miles [90.1 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 673 miles [1,083.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,569 miles [10,571.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,276 miles [11,709.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,153 miles [8,292.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 from Point A (ie- Calera) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Calera, 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 Calera 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>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 Calera 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 Calera. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.1032, Longitude: -86.7530    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.62 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.166 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.365 degrees.