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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mathews, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mathews and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Mathews:
    • 34.943697, -88.063925
    • 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 Mathews
  • 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 Lauderdale County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lauderdale County
    • Since Mathews is near Colbert County and also Tishomingo County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Colbert County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tishomingo 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 Mathews

Communities Also Named Mathews ...

We found nine communities that are also named Mathews.

There is one other community in Alabama that is also named Mathews.

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

  • Communities Located In Alabama ...
    • Montgomery 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 Alabama community of Mathews [Montgomery County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Morgan 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 Indiana community of Mathews [Morgan County].
    • Louisiana
      • Lafourche Parish
      • This Mathews is located in Lafourche Parish and lies 390 miles [627.6 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Mathews that is located in Lauderdale County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lafourche Parish community of Mathews.
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore 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 Maryland community of Mathews [Baltimore County].
      • Frederick County
      • This Mathews is located in Frederick County and lies 657 miles [1,057.3 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Mathews that is located in Lauderdale County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Frederick County community of Mathews.
    • North Dakota
      • Richland 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 North Dakota community of Mathews [Richland County].
    • South Carolina
      • Greenwood 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 South Carolina community of Mathews [Greenwood County].
    • Utah
      • Salt Lake County
      • This Mathews is located in Salt Lake County and lies 1,352 miles [2,175.8 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Mathews that is located in Lauderdale County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Salt Lake County community of Mathews.
    • Virginia
      • Mathews County
      • This Mathews is located in Mathews County and lies 676 miles [1,087.9 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Mathews that is located in Lauderdale County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mathews County community of Mathews.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mathews ...

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.

  • Chickasaw ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Chickasaw is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chickasaw
  • Chickasaw Crossing
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Chickasaw Crossing is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chickasaw Crossing
  • Cooks Landing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Cooks Landing is located in Tishomingo County (MS)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooks Landing
  • Crows Camp ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Crows Camp is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crows Camp
  • Dart
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Dart is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dart
  • Gravelly Springs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Gravelly Springs is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gravelly Springs
  • Haddock ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Haddock is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haddock
  • High Point
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • High Point is located in Tishomingo County (MS)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Point
  • Holiday Hills
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Holiday Hills is located in Hardin County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hills
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Lane Springs
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Lane Springs is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lane Springs
    • Murphy Cross Roads
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Murphy Cross Roads is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murphy Cross Roads
    • Ransom Stand
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Ransom Stand is located in Wayne County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ransom Stand
    • Short
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Short is located in Tishomingo County (MS)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Short
    • Stout
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Stout is located in Wayne County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stout
    • Walnut Grove ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Walnut Grove is located in Hardin County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove

How Far From Mathews 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 Mathews 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<3> community of Mathews once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Mathews and extending to:

  • Florence, which is the Seat of Lauderdale County, lies 24 miles [38.6 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Mathews to Florence, 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 most of a day.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 204 miles [328.3 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 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 666 miles [1,071.8 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,535 miles [10,517.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,252 miles [11,671 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,128 miles [8,252.7 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 Mathews 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 from Point A (ie- Mathews) 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 Mathews, 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 Mathews 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 Mathews. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.9437, Longitude: -88.0639       In this case, the coordinates for Mathews have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.532 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.473 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.512 degrees.