RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Etowah County >> Hopper >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hopper, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hopper and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Hopper:
    • 34.055374, -86.251367
    • 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 Hopper
  • 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 Etowah County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Etowah County
    • Since Hopper is near Blount County and also Marshall County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Blount County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marshall 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 Hopper

Communities Also Named Hopper ...

We found seven communities that are also named Hopper.

Within Alabama, the name Hopper is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Lee County
      • This Hopper is located in Lee County and lies 278 miles [447.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Hopper that is located in Etowah County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lee County community of Hopper.
      • Montgomery County
      • This Hopper is located in Montgomery County and lies 425 miles [684 km] to the west of the Hopper that is located in Etowah County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Hopper.
    • Illinois
      • Henderson County
      • This Hopper is located in Henderson County and lies 532 miles [856.2 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Hopper that is located in Etowah County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Henderson County community of Hopper.
    • Kansas
      • Washington 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 Kansas community of Hopper [Washington County].
    • Minnesota
      • Saint Louis County
      • This Hopper is located in Saint Louis County and lies 985 miles [1,585.2 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Hopper that is located in Etowah County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis County community of Hopper.
    • Virginia
      • Henry 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 Virginia community of Hopper [Henry County].
    • West Virginia
      • Greenbrier County
      • This Hopper is located in Greenbrier County and lies 419 miles [674.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Hopper that is located in Etowah County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greenbrier County community of Hopper.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Hopper ...

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.

  • Alice
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Alice is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alice
  • Aurora
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Aurora is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurora
  • Egypt
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Egypt is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Egypt
  • Gallant
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Gallant is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gallant
  • Littleton
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Littleton is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littleton
  • Mays
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Mays is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mays
  • Moodys Chapel
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Moodys Chapel is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moodys Chapel
  • New Home
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • New Home is located in Blount County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Home
  • Nix ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Nix is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nix
  • Redbud
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Redbud is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redbud
  • Shady Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Shady Grove is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
  • Walnut Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Walnut Grove is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 692 people

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

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

  • Gadsden, which is the Seat of Etowah County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Hopper to Gadsden, 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 115 miles [185.1 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 610 miles [981.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,503 miles [10,465.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,212 miles [11,606.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,088 miles [8,188.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Hopper) 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 Hopper 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 Hopper 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 Hopper. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.0554, Longitude: -86.2514       In this case, the coordinates for Hopper have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.376 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.015 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.957 degrees.