RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Jackson County >> Long Island >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Long Island, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Long Island 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 Long Island:
    • 34.973656, -85.671230
    • 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 Long Island
  • 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 Jackson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Since Long Island is near Marion County and also Dade County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marion County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dade 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 Long Island

Communities Also Named Long Island ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Long Island.

Within Alabama, the name Long Island is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alaska
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Alaska community of Long Island.
    • Kansas
      • Phillips County
      • This Long Island is located in Phillips County and lies 832 miles [1,339 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Long Island that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Phillips County community of Long Island.
    • Maine
      • Cumberland County
      • This Long Island is located in Cumberland County and lies 1,020 miles [1,641.5 km]<2> to the northeast of the Long Island that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cumberland County community of Long Island.
      • Hancock County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Maine community of Long Island [Hancock County].
    • Massachusetts
      • Suffolk County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Massachusetts community of Long Island [Suffolk County].
    • New Hampshire
      • Carroll County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New Hampshire community of Long Island [Carroll County].
    • Newfoundland and Labrador
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Newfoundland and Labrador community of Long Island.
    • North Carolina
      • Catawba County
      • This Long Island is located in Catawba County and lies 267 miles [429.7 km]<2> to the east of the Long Island that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Catawba County community of Long Island.
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Long Island lies 1,526 miles [2,455.9 km]<2> to the northeast of the Long Island that is located in Jackson County.
    • Tennessee
      • Sullivan County
      • This Long Island is located in Sullivan County and lies 204 miles [328.3 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Long Island that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sullivan County community of Long Island.
    • Virginia
      • Campbell County
      • This Long Island is located in Campbell County and lies 394 miles [634.1 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Long Island that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Campbell County community of Long Island.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Long Island ...

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.

  • Copenhagen ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Copenhagen is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copenhagen
  • Dixie Lee
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Dixie Lee is located in Marion County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dixie Lee
  • Glover Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Glover Hill is located in Marion County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glover Hill
  • Grahams Ferry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Grahams Ferry is located in Marion County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grahams Ferry
  • Island Creek Ferry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Island Creek Ferry is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island Creek Ferry
  • Nickajack ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Nickajack is located in Marion County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nickajack
  • Richard City
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Richard City is located in Marion County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richard City
  • Rocky Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Rocky Springs is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Springs
  • Shellmound ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Shellmound is located in Marion County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shellmound
  • Summer Bluff
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Summer Bluff is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summer Bluff
  • Sweetens Cove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Sweetens Cove is located in Marion County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetens Cove
  • Widows Creek Station
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Widows Creek Station is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Widows Creek Station

How Far From Long Island to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Long Island to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Scottsboro, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies 29 miles [46.7 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Long Island to Scottsboro, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 182 miles [292.9 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 547 miles [880.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 22 days and walking would take 31 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,435 miles [10,356.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,147 miles [11,502 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,023 miles [8,083.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Long Island 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.
<2>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Long Island) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Long Island, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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.
<5>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 Long Island 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 Long Island. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.9737, Longitude: -85.6712       In this case, the coordinates for Long Island have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.069 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.789 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.508 degrees.