RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Walker County >> Mountain Valley >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mountain Valley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mountain Valley 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 Mountain Valley:
    • 33.741776, -87.393061
    • 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 Mountain Valley
  • 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 Walker County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Walker County
    • Since Mountain Valley is near Fayette County and also Tuscaloosa County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette 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 Mountain Valley

Communities Also Named Mountain Valley ...

We found six communities that are also named Mountain Valley.

Within Alabama, the name Mountain Valley is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Garland County
      • This Mountain Valley is located in Garland County and lies 329 miles [529.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Mountain Valley that is located in Walker County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Garland County community of Mountain Valley.
    • Kentucky
      • Breathitt County
      • This Mountain Valley is located in Breathitt County and lies 355 miles [571.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Mountain Valley that is located in Walker County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Breathitt County community of Mountain Valley.
    • North Carolina
      • Henderson County
      • This Mountain Valley is located in Henderson County and lies 297 miles [478 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Mountain Valley that is located in Walker County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Henderson County community of Mountain Valley.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Lackawanna 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 Pennsylvania community of Mountain Valley [Lackawanna County].
    • Utah
      • Salt Lake County
      • This Mountain Valley is located in Salt Lake County and lies 1,417 miles [2,280.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Mountain Valley that is located in Walker County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Salt Lake County community of Mountain Valley.
    • Virginia
      • Henry 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 Virginia community of Mountain Valley [Henry County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mountain Valley ...

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.

  • America
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • America is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for America
  • Coal Valley
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Coal Valley is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal Valley
  • Holly Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Holly Grove is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Grove
  • Johnny Ford
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Johnny Ford is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnny Ford
  • Key Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Key Hill is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Key Hill
  • Kings Mill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Kings Mill is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Mill
  • Mount Hope
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Mount Hope is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
  • Pleasant Field
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Pleasant Field is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Field
  • Pleasant Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Providence
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Providence is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
  • Standard
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Standard is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Standard

How Far From Mountain Valley 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 Mountain Valley 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 Mountain Valley once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Mountain Valley and extending to:

  • Jasper, which is the Seat of Walker County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Mountain Valley to Jasper, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 113 miles [181.9 km] to the southeast (SE). 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 676 miles [1,087.9 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,565 miles [10,565.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,277 miles [11,711.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,152 miles [8,291.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Mountain Valley) 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 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 Mountain Valley 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 Mountain Valley, 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 Mountain Valley 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 Mountain Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.7418, Longitude: -87.3931       In this case, the coordinates for Mountain Valley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.047 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.747 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.488 degrees.