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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mays, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mays 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 Mays:
    • 34.098707, -86.186088
    • 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 Mays
  • 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 Etowah County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Etowah County
    • Since Mays is near Marshall County and also Blount County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marshall 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 Mays

Communities Also Named Mays ...

We found five communities that are also named Mays.

Within Alabama, the name Mays is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Mays is located in Hillsborough County and lies 494 miles [795 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Mays that is located in Etowah County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Mays.
    • Illinois
      • Edgar County
      • This Mays is located in Edgar County and lies 392 miles [630.9 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Mays that is located in Etowah County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Edgar County community of Mays.
    • Indiana
      • Rush County
      • This Mays is located in Rush County and lies 392 miles [630.9 km]<1> to the north of the Mays that is located in Etowah County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rush County community of Mays.
    • South Dakota
      • Custer County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Dakota community of Mays [Custer County].
    • Washington
      • Lewis County
      • 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 Washington community of Mays [Lewis County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mays ...

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.

  • Alice
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Alice is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alice
  • Aurora
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Aurora is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurora
  • Egypt
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Egypt is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Egypt
  • Hopper
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Hopper is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopper
  • Littleton
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Littleton is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littleton
  • Maryville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Maryville is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maryville
  • Noble Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Noble Hill is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noble Hill
  • Red Apple ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Red Apple is located in Marshall County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Apple
  • Redbud
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Redbud is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redbud
  • Rockledge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Rockledge is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockledge
  • Shady Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Shady Grove is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
  • Union
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Union is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union

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

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

  • Gadsden, which is the Seat of Etowah County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Mays to Gadsden, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 119 miles [191.5 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 605 miles [973.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,498 miles [10,457.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,207 miles [11,598.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,084 miles [8,181.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Mays) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Mays 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.
<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 Mays, 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 Mays 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 Mays. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.0987, Longitude: -86.1861       In this case, the coordinates for Mays have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.339 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.978 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.921 degrees.