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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Leighton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Leighton 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 Leighton:
    • 34.698625, -87.529115
    • 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 Leighton
  • 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 Colbert County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Colbert County
    • Since Leighton is near Lawrence County and also Lauderdale County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lauderdale 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 Leighton

Communities Also Named Leighton ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Leighton.

Within Alabama, the name Leighton is unique.

Beyond Alabama, we know of twelve communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these twelve communities, eleven are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Prairie County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Leighton [Prairie County].
    • California
      • Shasta County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Shasta County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Shasta County community of Leighton.
    • Georgia
      • Coffee 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 Georgia community of Leighton [Coffee County].
    • Iowa
      • Mahaska County
      • This Leighton is located in Mahaska County and lies 540 miles [869 km]<3> to the north northwest of the Leighton that is located in Colbert County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mahaska County community of Leighton.
    • Kentucky
      • Estill County
      • This Leighton is located in Estill County and lies 285 miles [458.7 km]<3> to the northeast of the Leighton that is located in Colbert County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Estill County community of Leighton.
    • Louisiana
      • Lafourche Parish
      • This Leighton is located in Lafourche Parish and lies 390 miles [627.6 km]<3> to the south southwest of the Leighton that is located in Colbert County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lafourche Parish community of Leighton.
    • Manitoba
      • This Leighton lies 1,202 miles [1,934.4 km]<3> to the north northwest of the Leighton that is located in Colbert County.
    • Minnesota
      • Hennepin County
      • This Leighton is located in Hennepin County and lies 784 miles [1,261.7 km]<3> to the north northwest of the Leighton that is located in Colbert County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hennepin County community of Leighton.
    • Mississippi
      • 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 Mississippi community of Leighton [Lee County].
    • New Mexico
      • Colfax 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 New Mexico community of Leighton [Colfax County].
      • Union County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Union County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Union County community of Leighton.
    • Tennessee
      • Madison County
      • This Leighton is located in Madison County and lies 104 miles [167.4 km]<3> to the northwest of the Leighton that is located in Colbert County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Leighton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Leighton ...

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.

  • Cave Spring
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Cave Spring is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cave Spring
  • Cottontown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Cottontown is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottontown
  • Edmond
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Edmond is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edmond
  • Ford City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Ford City is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ford City
  • Hobgood
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Hobgood is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobgood
  • Houston Corner
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Houston Corner is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Houston Corner
  • Hunter ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Hunter is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter
  • Listerhill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Listerhill is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Listerhill
  • Mount Pleasant ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Muscle Shoals
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Poplar Creek ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Poplar Creek is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Creek
  • Section
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Section is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Section
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Shady Grove ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Shady Grove is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
    • Spring Valley
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Spring Valley is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
    • Valley Grove
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Valley Grove is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Grove
    • Virginia Shores
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Virginia Shores is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Shores

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

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

  • Tuscumbia, which is the Seat of Colbert County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<3> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Leighton to Tuscumbia, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 175 miles [281.6 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 648 miles [1,042.9 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<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,525 miles [10,501 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,240 miles [11,651.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,115 miles [8,231.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Leighton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Leighton 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Leighton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Leighton 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 Leighton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.6986, Longitude: -87.5291       In this case, the coordinates for Leighton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.188 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.042 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.34 degrees.