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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Dry Valley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dry Valley 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 Dry Valley:
    • 33.077897, -86.816654
    • 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 Dry Valley
  • 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 Dry Valley 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 Dry Valley

Communities Also Named Dry Valley ...

We found six communities that are also named Dry Valley.

There is one other community in Alabama that is also named Dry Valley.

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

  • Communities Located In Alabama ...
    • Talladega County
      • This Dry Valley is located in Talladega County and lies 54 miles [86.9 km]<1> to the northeast of the Dry Valley that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Talladega County community of Dry Valley.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Caribou 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 Idaho community of Dry Valley [Caribou County].
    • Missouri
      • Lawrence County
      • This Dry Valley is located in Lawrence County and lies 490 miles [788.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Dry Valley that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lawrence County community of Dry Valley.
    • Nevada
      • Washoe County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Washoe County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washoe County community of Dry Valley.
    • Tennessee
      • Putnam County
      • This Dry Valley is located in Putnam County and lies 223 miles [358.9 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Dry Valley that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Putnam County community of Dry Valley.
    • Texas
      • Montague County
      • This Dry Valley is located in Montague County and lies 628 miles [1,010.7 km]<1> to the west of the Dry Valley that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montague County community of Dry Valley.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dry Valley ...

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.

  • Elliotsville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Elliotsville is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elliotsville
  • Glen Forest
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Glen Forest is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Forest
  • Ivanhoe
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Ivanhoe is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanhoe
  • Longview
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Longview is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview
  • Mars Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Mars Hill is located in Chilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mars Hill
  • Meadow Green
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Meadow Green is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Green
  • Mission Hills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Mission Hills is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Hills
  • Oak Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Oak Grove is located in Chilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Pea Ridge
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Pea Ridge is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pea Ridge
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Roberta
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Roberta is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roberta
    • Rocky Mount
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Rocky Mount is located in Chilton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Mount
    • Springs Junction
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Springs Junction is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springs Junction
    • Stems
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Stems is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stems
    • Valley Junction
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Valley Junction is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Junction
    • Willow Glen
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Willow Glen is located in Shelby County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Glen

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

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

  • Columbiana, which is the Seat of Shelby County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Dry Valley to Columbiana, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours 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 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 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,573 miles [10,578.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,280 miles [11,716 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,157 miles [8,299.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 from Point A (ie- Dry Valley) 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 Dry Valley 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>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 Dry Valley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Dry Valley 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 Dry Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.0779, Longitude: -86.8167       In this case, the coordinates for Dry Valley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.657 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.204 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.395 degrees.