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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Little Zion, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Little Zion 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 Little Zion:
    • 34.632870, -87.872257
    • 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 Little Zion
  • 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 Little Zion is near Franklin County and also Lauderdale County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin 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 Little Zion

Communities Also Named Little Zion ...

We found one communities that are also named Little Zion.

Within Alabama, the name Little Zion is unique.

Beyond Alabama, there is another community also named Little Zion in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Webster County
      • This Little Zion is located in Webster County and lies 201 miles [323.5 km]<1> to the north of the Little Zion that is located in Colbert County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Webster County community of Little Zion.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Little Zion ...

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.

  • Crooked Oak
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Crooked Oak is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crooked Oak
  • Flatwoods
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Flatwoods is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatwoods
  • Gatesville ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Gatesville is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gatesville
  • Hawk Pride
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hawk Pride is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawk Pride
  • Hub ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Hub is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hub
  • Lime Rock
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Lime Rock is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lime Rock
  • Mountain Mills ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Mountain Mills is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Mills
  • Pleasant Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Pride Landing
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Pride Landing is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pride Landing
  • Prides Ferry
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Prides Ferry is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prides Ferry
  • Red Rock
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Red Rock is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Rock
  • Rock Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Rock Creek is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Creek
  • Sand Lick ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Sand Lick is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Lick
  • Woodland Landing ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Woodland Landing is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Landing

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<2> community of Little Zion once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Little Zion and extending to:

  • Tuscumbia, which is the Seat of Colbert County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Little Zion to Tuscumbia, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 180 miles [289.7 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 667 miles [1,073.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 38 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,542 miles [10,528.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,258 miles [11,680.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,133 miles [8,260.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 from Point A (ie- Little Zion) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Little Zion, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Little Zion 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 Little Zion. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.6329, Longitude: -87.8723       In this case, the coordinates for Little Zion have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.395 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.272 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.498 degrees.