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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Dunaway Farms, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dunaway Farms 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 Dunaway Farms:
    • 33.264558, -86.854156
    • 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 Dunaway Farms
  • 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 Dunaway Farms 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 Dunaway Farms

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dunaway Farms ...

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.

  • Alabaster
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
  • Dearing Downs
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Dearing Downs is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dearing Downs
  • Fox Haven
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Fox Haven is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Haven
  • Hardy
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Hardy is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardy
  • Helena
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Keystone
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Keystone is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone
  • Kingwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Kingwood is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingwood
  • Navajo Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Navajo Hills is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Navajo Hills
  • Navajo Pines
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Navajo Pines is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Navajo Pines
  • Paramount
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Paramount is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paramount

How Far From Dunaway Farms to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Dunaway Farms to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Dunaway Farms and extending to:

  • Columbiana, which is the Seat of Shelby County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Dunaway Farms to Columbiana, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day 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 69 miles [111 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 671 miles [1,079.9 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 6,566 miles [10,567 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,274 miles [11,706.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,150 miles [8,288.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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- Dunaway Farms) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Dunaway Farms 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 Dunaway Farms. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.2646, Longitude: -86.8542       In this case, the coordinates for Dunaway Farms have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.692 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.27 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.371 degrees.