Our Genealogy Helper
Introduction ...
We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:
- That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
- We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
- On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.
By learning about The Highlands (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.
As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for The Highlands. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.
Neighboring Counties ...
When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.
For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.
So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived: their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the west contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.
If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.
The Highlands is located in Etowah County.
To see how the shape of Alabama's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Etowah County: Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, DeKalb, Marshall & Saint Clair.
Below are the counties that are near The Highlands. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to The Highlands:
- Etowah County (The home county of The Highlands)
- The following are listed by their distance from The Highlands, with the one closest to The Highlands listed first.
- Black Creek Falls ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the south)
- Black Creek Falls is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Creek Falls
- Reece City
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Reece City is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reece City
- Population from the 2020 Census: 624 people
- Gadsden
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Alabama City
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Alabama City is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alabama City
- Crudup
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Crudup is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crudup
- Bennettsville ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Bennettsville is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bennettsville
- East Gadsden
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- East Gadsden is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Gadsden
- Ridgeville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Ridgeville is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgeville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 109 people
- Anderson
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Anderson is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anderson
- Edwardsville
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Edwardsville is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edwardsville
- Attalla
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Burns Park
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Burns Park is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burns Park
- Blount County
- The following are listed by their distance from The Highlands, with the one closest to The Highlands listed first.
- Bird ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Bird is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bird
- Highmound
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Highmound is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highmound
- Snead
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Wynnville
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
- Wynnville is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wynnville
- Taits Gap
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Taits Gap is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taits Gap
- Clarence
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Clarence is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarence
- Fridays Crossing
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Fridays Crossing is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fridays Crossing
- Hoods Crossroads
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Hoods Crossroads is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoods Crossroads
- McLarty
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- McLarty is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McLarty
- Susan Moore
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Susan Moore is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Susan Moore
- Population from the 2020 Census: 797 people
- Appalachian
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
- Appalachian is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Appalachian
- Bright Star
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Bright Star is located in Blount County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bright Star
- Calhoun County
- The following are listed by their distance from The Highlands, with the one closest to The Highlands listed first.
- Southside
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
- Oak Level
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Oak Level is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Level
- Douthrittville ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Douthrittville is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Douthrittville
- Cochran Springs
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Cochran Springs is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cochran Springs
- Colvins Gap
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
- Colvins Gap is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colvins Gap
- Hebron ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Hebron is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hebron
- Mack ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
- Mack is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mack
- Adelia ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Adelia is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adelia
- Grayton
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
- Grayton is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grayton
- Angel
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Angel is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Angel
- Wellington
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
- Wellington is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wellington
- Chigger Ridge ‑ Historic
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)
- Chigger Ridge is located in Calhoun County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chigger Ridge
- Cherokee County
- The following are listed by their distance from The Highlands, with the one closest to The Highlands listed first.
- Ball Flat
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Ball Flat is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ball Flat
- Leesburg
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Anderson
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Ricks ‑ Historic
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Ricks is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ricks
- Turkey Town ‑ Historic
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
- Turkey Town is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Town
- Sand Rock
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Sand Rock is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Rock
- Population from the 2020 Census: 674 people
- Centre
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
- Coloma ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Coloma is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coloma
- Moshat
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Moshat is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moshat
- Exie
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Exie is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Exie
- Noah
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Noah is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noah
- Tucker Crossroads
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Tucker Crossroads is located in Cherokee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tucker Crossroads
- Cleburne County
- Grantley
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
- Grantley is located in Cleburne County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grantley
- DeKalb County
- The following are listed by their distance from The Highlands, with the one closest to The Highlands listed first.
- Marcus ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Marcus is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marcus
- Mount Zion ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Mount Zion is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Zion
- Rodentown
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Rodentown is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rodentown
- Cotnam
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Cotnam is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotnam
- Rains ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Rains is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rains
- Crossville
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Collinsville
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Dawson
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Dawson is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawson
- Geraldine
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Rogers
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Rogers is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rogers
- Whiton
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Whiton is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whiton
- Mount Vernon
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
- Mount Vernon is located in DeKalb County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Vernon
- Marshall County
- The following are listed by their distance from The Highlands, with the one closest to The Highlands listed first.
- Boaz
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Whitesville
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
- Whitesville is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitesville
- Bartlett ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Bartlett is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bartlett
- Albertville
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Reedbrake ‑ Historic
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Reedbrake is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reedbrake
- Douglas
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Douglas is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Douglas
- Population from the 2020 Census: 780 people
- Horton
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
- Horton is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horton
- Hustleville
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
- Hustleville is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hustleville
- Minorville ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Minorville is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minorville
- Rabbit Town
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Rabbit Town is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rabbit Town
- Peters ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Peters is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peters
- Hyatt
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Hyatt is located in Marshall County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hyatt
- Saint Clair County
- The following are listed by their distance from The Highlands, with the one closest to The Highlands listed first.
- Steele
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Ashville
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Whitney Junction
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Whitney Junction is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitney Junction
- Ragland
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Saint Clair Springs
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Saint Clair Springs is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Clair Springs
- Wattsville
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Wattsville is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wattsville
- Coal City
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
- Coal City is located in Saint Clair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal City
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to The Highlands, see our County-by-County Page for The Highlands.
Cemeteries Near The Highlands ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of The Highlands.
This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.
Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for The Highlands - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for The Highlands covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from The Highlands, with the one closest to The Highlands listed first.
- Forrest Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Beth Israel Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Alabama City Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Southern Hill Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Southern Hill Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Southern Hill Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Gadsden.
- The Southern Hill Cemetery has also been known as:
- Sixth Street Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2297800 <2>
- Hughes Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Cave Spring Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- McCartney Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Pleasant Hill Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Lincoln Hill Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Tillison Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Macedonia Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Rainbow Memorial Gardens
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Continue List (383 more) ...
- Crestwood Memorial Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Union Hill UMC Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Cox Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
Nearby Communities in 1895 ...
We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<3>
While we didn't find The Highlands in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of The Highlands.
These communities are listed based on their distance from The Highlands, with the one closest to The Highlands listed first.
- Gadsden
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Crudup
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
- Crudup is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crudup
- Avery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Avery is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Avery
- East Gadsden
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- East Gadsden is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Gadsden
- Upton
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Upton is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upton
- Brice
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Brice is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brice
- Attalla
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Norton
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Norton is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norton
- Haworth ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Haworth is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haworth
- Duck Springs
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Duck Springs is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duck Springs
- Littleton
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Littleton is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littleton
- Coat's Bend
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Coat's Bend is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coat's Bend
- Continue List (13 more) ...
- Turkeytown
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Turkeytown is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkeytown
- Stanfield ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Stanfield is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanfield
- Keener
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Keener is located in Etowah County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keener
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around The Highlands. See our List of 1890's Communities around The Highlands.
Newspapers Published in The Highlands ...
An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.
Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 29 newspapers that have been published in the area around The Highlands.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of The Highlands, there are papers which were published within 5 miles [8 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for The Highlands.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.
To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to The Highlands:
- Websites specific to Alabama
- Pages specific to Etowah County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Blount County
- Calhoun County
- Cherokee County
- Cleburne County
- DeKalb County
- Marshall County
- Saint Clair County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Alabama
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> | The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com. |
| <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 The Highlands, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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 from Point A (ie- The Highlands) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |