RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Randolph County >> Gold Ridge >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gold Ridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gold Ridge 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 Gold Ridge:
    • 33.489556, -85.385507
    • 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 Gold Ridge
  • 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 Randolph County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Randolph County
    • Since Gold Ridge is near Cleburne County and also Carroll County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cleburne County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Carroll 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 Gold Ridge

Communities Also Named Gold Ridge ...

We found three communities that are also named Gold Ridge.

There are two communities within Alabama that are also named Gold Ridge.

Beyond Alabama, there is another community also named Gold Ridge in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Alabama ...
    • Cullman County
      • This Gold Ridge is located in Cullman County and lies 94 miles [151.3 km]<1> to the northwest of the Gold Ridge that is located in Randolph County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cullman County community of Gold Ridge.
    • Lee 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 Alabama community of Gold Ridge [Lee County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • El Dorado County
      • This Gold Ridge is located in El Dorado County and lies 1,983 miles [3,191.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Gold Ridge that is located in Randolph County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the El Dorado County community of Gold Ridge.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gold Ridge ...

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.

  • Bucktown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Bucktown is located in Carroll County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bucktown
  • Cedar Valley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar Valley is located in Carroll County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Valley
  • Graham
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Graham is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham
  • Hawk
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Hawk is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawk
  • Hightower
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Hightower is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hightower
  • Lofty
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Lofty is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lofty
  • Providence
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Providence is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
  • Trickem
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Trickem is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trickem
  • Union
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Union is located in Randolph County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
  • Union Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Union Hill is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill

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

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

  • Wedowee, which is the Seat of Randolph County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Gold Ridge to Wedowee, with an average speed<3> 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 93 miles [149.7 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 596 miles [959.2 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 34 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,493 miles [10,449.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,198 miles [11,584.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,075 miles [8,167.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Gold Ridge) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Gold Ridge 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 Gold Ridge 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 Gold Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.4896, Longitude: -85.3855       In this case, the coordinates for Gold Ridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.829 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.305 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.739 degrees.