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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Maxine, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Maxine 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 Maxine:
    • 33.577886, -87.148887
    • 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 Maxine
  • 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 Maxine is near Walker County and also Tuscaloosa County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Walker County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tuscaloosa 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 Maxine

Communities Also Named Maxine ...

We found three communities that are also named Maxine.

Within Alabama, the name Maxine is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Crawford 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 Kansas community of Maxine [Crawford County].
    • Kentucky
      • Larue County
      • This Maxine is located in Larue County and lies 278 miles [447.4 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Maxine that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Larue County community of Maxine.
    • West Virginia
      • Boone County
      • This Maxine is located in Boone County and lies 440 miles [708.1 km]<2> to the northeast of the Maxine that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boone County community of Maxine.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Maxine ...

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.

  • Alliance
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Alliance is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alliance
  • Driftwood
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Driftwood is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Driftwood
  • Flat Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Flat Creek is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Creek
  • Glaze Ferry
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Glaze Ferry is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glaze Ferry
  • Pumpkin Center
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Pumpkin Center is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumpkin Center
  • Reeds Ferry
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Reeds Ferry is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reeds Ferry
  • Short Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Short Creek is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Short Creek
  • Snow Ferry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Snow Ferry is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snow Ferry
  • Toadvine
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Toadvine is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toadvine
  • Vines Mill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Vines Mill is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vines Mill
  • Wilderness Garden
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Wilderness Garden is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilderness Garden
  • Williams Ferry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Williams Ferry is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams Ferry

How Far From Maxine to ...

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

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

  • Birmingham, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<2> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Maxine to Birmingham, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day 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 96 miles [154.5 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 671 miles [1,079.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,563 miles [10,562.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,273 miles [11,704.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,149 miles [8,286.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Maxine 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Maxine) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Maxine 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 Maxine. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.5779, Longitude: -87.1489       In this case, the coordinates for Maxine have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.889 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.542 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.424 degrees.