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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Driftwood, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Driftwood 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 Driftwood:
    • 33.525665, -87.237499
    • 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 Driftwood
  • 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Driftwood is near Walker County and also Tuscaloosa County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Walker County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tuscaloosa 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 Driftwood

Communities Also Named Driftwood ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Driftwood.

Within Alabama, the name Driftwood is unique.

Beyond Alabama, we know of twelve communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these twelve communities, eleven are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Lawrence County
      • This Driftwood is located in Lawrence County and lies 283 miles [455.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Driftwood that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lawrence County community of Driftwood.
    • Florida
      • Broward County
      • 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 Florida community of Driftwood [Broward County].
    • Illinois
      • Cook County
      • This Driftwood is located in Cook County and lies 594 miles [956 km]<1> to the north of the Driftwood that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cook County community of Driftwood.
    • Kansas
      • Rawlins County
      • 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 Kansas community of Driftwood [Rawlins County].
    • New York
      • Chautauqua County
      • This Driftwood is located in Chautauqua County and lies 733 miles [1,179.6 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Driftwood that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chautauqua County community of Driftwood.
    • Ohio
      • Ashtabula County
      • This Driftwood is located in Ashtabula County and lies 667 miles [1,073.4 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Driftwood that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ashtabula County community of Driftwood.
    • Oklahoma
      • Alfalfa County
      • This Driftwood is located in Alfalfa County and lies 668 miles [1,075 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Driftwood that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Alfalfa County community of Driftwood.
    • Ontario
      • This Driftwood lies 1,118 miles [1,799.2 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Driftwood that is located in Jefferson County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Cameron County
      • This Driftwood is located in Cameron County and lies 734 miles [1,181.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Driftwood that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cameron County community of Driftwood.
    • Tennessee
      • Sullivan County
      • This Driftwood is located in Sullivan County and lies 352 miles [566.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the Driftwood that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sullivan County community of Driftwood.
    • Texas
      • Hays County
      • This Driftwood is located in Hays County and lies 674 miles [1,084.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Driftwood that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hays County community of Driftwood.
    • West Virginia
      • Pocahontas County
      • 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 West Virginia community of Driftwood [Pocahontas County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Driftwood ...

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.

  • Alliance
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Alliance is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alliance
  • Bull City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Bull City is located in Tuscaloosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bull City
  • Glaze Ferry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Glaze Ferry is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glaze Ferry
  • Little Shoal
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Little Shoal is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Shoal
  • Maxine
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Maxine is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxine
  • Oak Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Oak Grove is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Providence
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Providence is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
  • Snow Ferry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Snow Ferry is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snow Ferry
  • Three Forks
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Three Forks is located in Tuscaloosa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Forks
  • Toadvine
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Toadvine is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toadvine
  • Vines Mill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Vines Mill is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vines Mill
  • Wilderness Garden
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Wilderness Garden is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilderness Garden

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

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

  • Birmingham, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies 24 miles [38.6 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Driftwood to Birmingham, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 96 miles [154.5 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 677 miles [1,089.5 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<4> 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).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,279 miles [11,714.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,155 miles [8,296.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Driftwood) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Driftwood 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 Driftwood 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 Driftwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.5257, Longitude: -87.2375       In this case, the coordinates for Driftwood have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.939 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.592 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.47 degrees.