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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Longtown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Longtown 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 Longtown:
    • 34.556482, -87.276686
    • 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 Longtown
  • 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 Lawrence County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence County
    • Since Longtown is near Morgan County and also Colbert County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Morgan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Colbert 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 Longtown

Communities Also Named Longtown ...

We found eight communities that are also named Longtown.

Within Alabama, the name Longtown is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Mississippi
      • Panola County
      • This Longtown is located in Panola County and lies 161 miles [259.1 km]<1> to the west of the Longtown that is located in Lawrence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Panola County community of Longtown.
    • Missouri
      • Perry County
      • This Longtown is located in Perry County and lies 256 miles [412 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Longtown that is located in Lawrence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Perry County community of Longtown.
    • North Carolina
      • Burke County
      • This Longtown is located in Burke County and lies 314 miles [505.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Longtown that is located in Lawrence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Burke County community of Longtown.
      • Yadkin County
      • This Longtown is located in Yadkin County and lies 382 miles [614.8 km] to the east northeast of the Longtown that is located in Lawrence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Yadkin County community of Longtown.
    • Oklahoma
      • Pittsburg County
      • This Longtown is located in Pittsburg County and lies 468 miles [753.2 km]<1> to the west of the Longtown that is located in Lawrence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pittsburg County community of Longtown.
    • South Carolina
      • Fairfield County
      • This Longtown is located in Fairfield County and lies 366 miles [589 km]<1> to the east of the Longtown that is located in Lawrence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfield County community of Longtown.
    • Tennessee
      • Fayette County
      • This Longtown is located in Fayette County and lies 137 miles [220.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Longtown that is located in Lawrence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Longtown.
      • Hawkins County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Longtown [Hawkins County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Longtown ...

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.

  • Brides Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Brides Hill is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brides Hill
  • Fish Pond
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Fish Pond is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fish Pond
  • Five Points
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Five Points is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Harmony
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Harmony is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
  • Kitchens Mill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Kitchens Mill is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kitchens Mill
  • Mountain Home
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Mountain Home is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Home
  • Muck City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Muck City is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muck City
  • Oak Grove
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Oak Grove is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Terry Heights
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Terry Heights is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terry Heights
  • Terrytown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Terrytown is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terrytown
  • Trace Ford
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Trace Ford is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trace Ford

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

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

  • Moulton, which is the Seat of Lawrence County, lies just to the South.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 160 miles [257.5 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Longtown to Montgomery, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 640 miles [1,030 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,521 miles [10,494.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,235 miles [11,643.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,111 miles [8,225.4 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- Longtown) 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 Longtown, 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 Longtown 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 Longtown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.5565, Longitude: -87.2767       In this case, the coordinates for Longtown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.025 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.834 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.266 degrees.