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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Deerhurst, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Deerhurst 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 Deerhurst:
    • 33.283169, -86.763599
    • 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 Deerhurst
  • 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 Deerhurst is near Jefferson County and also Bibb 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 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 Deerhurst

Communities Also Named Deerhurst ...

We found three communities that are also named Deerhurst.

Within Alabama, the name Deerhurst is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • New Castle County
      • This Deerhurst is located in New Castle County and lies 766 miles [1,232.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Deerhurst that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Castle County community of Deerhurst.
    • North Carolina
      • Mecklenburg County
      • This Deerhurst is located in Mecklenburg County and lies 368 miles [592.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Deerhurst that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mecklenburg County community of Deerhurst.
    • Ontario
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ontario community of Deerhurst.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Deerhurst ...

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.

  • Dearing Downs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Dearing Downs is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dearing Downs
  • Fungo Hollow
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Fungo Hollow is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fungo Hollow
  • Hardy
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hardy is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardy
  • Hunters Glen ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Hunters Glen is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Glen
  • Indian Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Indian Hills is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
  • Indian Springs Ranch
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Indian Springs Ranch is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Springs Ranch
  • Keystone
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Keystone is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone
  • Kingwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Kingwood is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingwood
  • Mallard Point
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Mallard Point is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mallard Point
  • Navajo Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Navajo Hills is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Navajo Hills
  • Paramount
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Paramount is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paramount
  • Quail Run
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Quail Run is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Run
  • Royal Oaks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Royal Oaks is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Oaks
  • Valley Station
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Valley Station is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Station

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

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

  • Columbiana, which is the Seat of Shelby County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Deerhurst to Columbiana, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 68 miles [109.4 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 666 miles [1,071.8 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 38 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,561 miles [10,558.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,269 miles [11,698.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,145 miles [8,280.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Deerhurst) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Deerhurst 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.
<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 Deerhurst 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 Deerhurst. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.2832, Longitude: -86.7636       In this case, the coordinates for Deerhurst have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.638 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.211 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.331 degrees.