RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Lauderdale County >> Elm Acres >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Elm Acres, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Elm Acres 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 Elm Acres:
    • 34.840365, -87.602249
    • 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 Elm Acres
  • 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 Lauderdale County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lauderdale County
    • Since Elm Acres is near Colbert County and also Lawrence County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Colbert County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence 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 Elm Acres

Curious and Interesting Names Near Elm Acres ...

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.

  • Emerald Shores
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Emerald Shores is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emerald Shores
  • Falconhead
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Falconhead is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falconhead
  • Hickory Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Hickory Hills is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Hills
  • Hideaway Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hideaway Hills is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hideaway Hills
  • Indian Springs
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Indian Springs is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Springs
  • Kingman ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Kingman is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingman
  • Lake Coves
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Lake Coves is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Coves
  • Lakeview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Lakeview is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Lakeview Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Lakeview Heights is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Heights
  • Lakeview Highlands
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Lakeview Highlands is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Highlands
  • Lock Six
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Lock Six is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lock Six
  • Lockland
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Lockland is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lockland
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Mars Hill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Mars Hill is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mars Hill
    • Sky Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Sky Park is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sky Park
    • Twin Brooks
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Twin Brooks is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Brooks
    • Village Pines
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Village Pines is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Village Pines
    • Woodlawn
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Woodlawn is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Elm Acres and extending to:

  • Florence, which is the Seat of Lauderdale County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 185 miles [297.7 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Elm Acres to Montgomery, with an average speed<2>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 646 miles [1,039.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,521 miles [10,494.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,237 miles [11,646.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,112 miles [8,227 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Elm Acres) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Elm Acres 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 Elm Acres. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.8404, Longitude: -87.6022       In this case, the coordinates for Elm Acres have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.241 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.122 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.34 degrees.