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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Portersville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Portersville 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 Portersville:
    • 34.321203, -85.820802
    • 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 Portersville
  • 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 DeKalb County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DeKalb County
    • Since Portersville is near Cherokee County and also Etowah County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cherokee County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Etowah 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 Portersville

Communities Also Named Portersville ...

We found five communities that are also named Portersville.

Within Alabama, the name Portersville is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Dubois County
      • This Portersville is located in Dubois County and lies 295 miles [474.8 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Portersville that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dubois County community of Portersville.
    • North Carolina
      • Bladen 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 North Carolina community of Portersville [Bladen County].
    • Ohio
      • Perry County
      • This Portersville is located in Perry County and lies 424 miles [682.4 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Portersville that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Perry County community of Portersville.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Butler County
      • This Portersville is located in Butler County and lies 551 miles [886.7 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Portersville that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of Portersville.
    • West Virginia
      • Lincoln County
      • This Portersville is located in Lincoln County and lies 344 miles [553.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Portersville that is located in DeKalb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lincoln County community of Portersville.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Portersville ...

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.

  • Blue Pond
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Blue Pond is located in Cherokee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Pond
  • Bootsville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Bootsville is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bootsville
  • Clyde ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Clyde is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
  • Dog Town
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Dog Town is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dog Town
  • Gilbert Crossroads
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Gilbert Crossroads is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilbert Crossroads
  • Guest
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Guest is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guest
  • Homer ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Homer is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homer
  • Hughes Mill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Hughes Mill is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hughes Mill
  • Leonard
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Leonard is located in Cherokee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leonard
  • Lickskillet
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Lickskillet is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lickskillet
  • Little River
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Little River is located in Cherokee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little River
  • Loveless
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Loveless is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loveless
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Luna ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Luna is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luna
    • Lydia
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Lydia is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lydia
    • Peeks Corner
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Peeks Corner is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peeks Corner
    • Pleasant Hill
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
      • Pleasant Hill is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
    • Sand Rock
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Sand Rock is located in Cherokee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Rock
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 674 people
    • Tucker ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Tucker is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tucker

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

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

  • Fort Payne, which is the Seat of DeKalb County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Portersville to Fort Payne, with an average speed<3> 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 137 miles [220.5 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 580 miles [933.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 33 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,472 miles [10,415.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,182 miles [11,558.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,058 miles [8,140.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Portersville) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Portersville 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 Portersville 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 Portersville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.3212, Longitude: -85.8208       In this case, the coordinates for Portersville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.13 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.769 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.722 degrees.