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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McDonald Chapel, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McDonald Chapel 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 McDonald Chapel:
    • 33.521773, -86.933604
    • 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 McDonald Chapel
  • 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 McDonald Chapel is near Walker County and also Shelby 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 Shelby 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 McDonald Chapel

Curious and Interesting Names Near McDonald Chapel ...

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.

  • Booker Heights
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Booker Heights is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Booker Heights
  • Cottage Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Cottage Hill is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottage Hill
  • Dolomite
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Edgewater
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Edgewater is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgewater
  • Falls Junction
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Falls Junction is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falls Junction
  • Forestdale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Forestdale is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forestdale
  • Frenchtown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Frenchtown is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenchtown
  • Garywood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Garywood is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garywood
  • Glenview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Glenview is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenview
  • Green Acres
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Green Acres is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Hillview
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Hillview is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillview
  • Ivanhoe
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Ivanhoe is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanhoe
  • Continue List   (12 more) ...
    • Little Italy
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Little Italy is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Italy
    • Martins
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Martins is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martins
    • Maytown
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Maytown is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maytown
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 364 people
    • Merrywood
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Merrywood is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrywood
    • Minor
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Minor is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minor
    • Park Courts
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Park Courts is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Courts
    • Pleasant Grove
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Shadyside
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Shadyside is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadyside
    • Sunset Mountain
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Sunset Mountain is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Mountain
    • Tuxedo Heights
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Tuxedo Heights is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuxedo Heights
    • Village Creek Junction
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Walnut Grove
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Walnut Grove is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in McDonald Chapel and extending to:

  • Birmingham, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies just to the East.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 87 miles [140 km]<2> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from McDonald Chapel to Montgomery, with an average speed<3>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 664 miles [1,068.6 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,557 miles [10,552.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,266 miles [11,693.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,142 miles [8,275.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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- McDonald Chapel) 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 McDonald Chapel 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 McDonald Chapel. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.5218, Longitude: -86.9336       In this case, the coordinates for McDonald Chapel have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.756 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.38 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.349 degrees.