RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Mobile County >> Park Forest >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Park Forest, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Park Forest 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 Park Forest:
    • 30.707412, -88.179725
    • 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 Park Forest
  • 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 Mobile County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mobile County
    • Since Park Forest is near Baldwin County and also George County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Baldwin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for George 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 Park Forest

Communities Also Named Park Forest ...

We found seven communities that are also named Park Forest.

Within Alabama, the name Park Forest is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • San Mateo County
      • This Park Forest is located in San Mateo County and lies 1,988 miles [3,199.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Park Forest that is located in Mobile County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Mateo County community of Park Forest.
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Park Forest is located in Hillsborough County and lies 389 miles [626 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Park Forest that is located in Mobile County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Park Forest.
    • Georgia
      • Clayton County
      • This Park Forest is located in Clayton County and lies 298 miles [479.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Park Forest that is located in Mobile County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clayton County community of Park Forest.
      • Douglas County
      • This Park Forest is located in Douglas County and lies 294 miles [473.1 km] to the northeast of the Park Forest that is located in Mobile County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Douglas County community of Park Forest.
    • Illinois
      • Cook County
      • This Park Forest is located in Cook County and lies 745 miles [1,199 km]<1> to the north of the Park Forest that is located in Mobile County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cook County community of Park Forest.
    • Louisiana
      • East Baton Rouge Parish
      • This Park Forest is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and lies 172 miles [276.8 km]<1> to the west of the Park Forest that is located in Mobile County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the East Baton Rouge Parish community of Park Forest.
    • Missouri
      • Platte 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 Missouri community of Park Forest [Platte County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Park Forest ...

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.

  • Cottage Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Cottage Hill is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottage Hill
  • Deerwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Deerwood is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerwood
  • Edgefield
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Edgefield is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgefield
  • Eight Mile
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Indian Hills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Indian Hills is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
  • Indian Springs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Indian Springs is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Springs
  • Orchard
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Orchard is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchard
  • Pine Run
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Pine Run is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Run
  • Ponderosa
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Ponderosa is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ponderosa
  • Regency
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Regency is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency
  • Scenic Hills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Scenic Hills is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scenic Hills
  • Spring Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Spring Valley is located in Mobile County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Sugar Creek
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Sugar Creek is located in Mobile County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Creek
    • Sunset Ranch
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Sunset Ranch is located in Mobile County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Ranch
    • Timbers
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Timbers is located in Mobile County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timbers
    • Whistler
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Whistler is located in Mobile County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whistler

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

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

  • Mobile, which is the Seat of Mobile County, lies just to the East.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 159 miles [255.9 km]<1> to the northeast (NE). If you could drive a straight line from Park Forest to Montgomery, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 846 miles [1,361.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 48 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,744 miles [10,853.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,446 miles [11,983.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,324 miles [8,568.1 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Park Forest) 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 Park Forest 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Park Forest 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 Park Forest. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.7074, Longitude: -88.1797       In this case, the coordinates for Park Forest have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.275 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.597 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.375 degrees.