RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Jefferson County >> Mason City >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mason City, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mason City 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 Mason City:
    • 33.468163, -86.849713
    • 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 Mason City
  • 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Mason City is near Shelby County and also Blount County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Blount 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 Mason City

Communities Also Named Mason City ...

We found five communities that are also named Mason City.

Within Alabama, the name Mason City is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Mason County
      • This Mason City is located in Mason County and lies 490 miles [788.6 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Mason City that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mason County community of Mason City.
    • Iowa
      • Cerro Gordo County
      • This Mason City is located in Cerro Gordo County and lies 751 miles [1,208.6 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Mason City that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cerro Gordo County community of Mason City.
    • Nebraska
      • Custer County
      • This Mason City is located in Custer County and lies 866 miles [1,393.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Mason City that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Custer County community of Mason City.
    • Washington
      • Okanogan 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 Washington community of Mason City [Okanogan County].
    • West Virginia
      • Mason County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Mason City [Mason County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mason City ...

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.

  • Chimney Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Chimney Hills is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chimney Hills
  • Crest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Crest is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crest
  • Crossgate
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Crossgate is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossgate
  • Five Points South
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Five Points South is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points South
  • Glen Iris
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Glen Iris is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Iris
  • Glenview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Glenview is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenview
  • Green Acres
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Green Acres is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Grove Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Grove Park is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Park
  • Hillman
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hillman is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillman
  • Hillman Gardens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hillman Gardens is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillman Gardens
  • Hillman Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hillman Park is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillman Park
  • Homewood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (11 more) ...
    • Imperial Forest
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Imperial Forest is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Imperial Forest
    • Ivanhoe
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Ivanhoe is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanhoe
    • Jones Valley
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Jones Valley is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones Valley
    • Lakeview Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Lakeview Park is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Park
    • Martins
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Martins is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martins
    • Mill Run
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Mill Run is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mill Run
    • Mountain Oaks
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Mountain Oaks is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Oaks
    • Park Courts
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Park Courts is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Courts
    • Rosedale
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Rosedale is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosedale
    • Shades Cliff
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Shades Cliff is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shades Cliff
    • Shadyside
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Shadyside is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadyside

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

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

  • Birmingham, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 81 miles [130.4 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Mason City to Montgomery, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 662 miles [1,065.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 38 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,556 miles [10,550.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,264 miles [11,690.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,141 miles [8,273.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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- Mason City) 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 Mason City, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Mason City 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.
<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 Mason City 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 Mason City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.4682, Longitude: -86.8497       In this case, the coordinates for Mason City have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.702 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.31 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.326 degrees.