RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Lawrence County >> Poplar Point >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Poplar Point, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Poplar Point 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 Poplar Point:
    • 34.728423, -87.137514
    • 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 Poplar Point
  • 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 Lawrence County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence County
    • Since Poplar Point is near Limestone County and also Lauderdale County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Limestone County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lauderdale 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 Poplar Point

Communities Also Named Poplar Point ...

We found five communities that are also named Poplar Point.

Within Alabama, the name Poplar Point is unique.

Beyond Alabama, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, three are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Manitoba
      • This Poplar Point lies 1,191 miles [1,916.7 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Poplar Point that is located in Lawrence County.
    • Maryland
      • Anne Arundel County
      • This Poplar Point is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 653 miles [1,050.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Poplar Point that is located in Lawrence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of Poplar Point.
      • Cecil County
      • This Poplar Point is located in Cecil County and lies 695 miles [1,118.5 km] to the east northeast of the Poplar Point that is located in Lawrence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cecil County community of Poplar Point.
    • Prince Edward Island
      • This Poplar Point lies 1,510 miles [2,430.1 km]<1> to the northeast of the Poplar Point that is located in Lawrence County.
    • Rhode Island
      • Washington 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 Rhode Island community of Poplar Point [Washington County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Poplar Point ...

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.

  • Cave Spring
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Cave Spring is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cave Spring
  • Fish Pond
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Fish Pond is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fish Pond
  • Flower Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Flower Hill is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flower Hill
  • Jerusalem
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jerusalem is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerusalem
  • Lakeview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Lakeview is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Lawngate
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Lawngate is located in Limestone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lawngate
  • Paradise Shores
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Paradise Shores is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise Shores
  • Poplar Creek
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Poplar Creek is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Creek
  • Riverview ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Riverview is located in Morgan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview

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

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

  • Moulton, which is the Seat of Lawrence County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Poplar Point to Moulton, 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 6 hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 169 miles [272 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 627 miles [1,009.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,507 miles [10,472 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,222 miles [11,622.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,097 miles [8,202.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Poplar Point) 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 Poplar Point 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 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 Poplar Point 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 Poplar Point. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.7284, Longitude: -87.1375       In this case, the coordinates for Poplar Point have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.95 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.77 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.171 degrees.