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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Reedtown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Reedtown 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 Reedtown:
    • 34.496762, -87.741699
    • 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 Reedtown
  • 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 Franklin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin County
    • Since Reedtown is near Colbert County and also Lawrence County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Colbert County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence 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 Reedtown

Communities Also Named Reedtown ...

We found five communities that are also named Reedtown.

Within Alabama, the name Reedtown is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Mississippi
      • Hinds County
      • This Reedtown is located in Hinds County and lies 236 miles [379.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Reedtown that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hinds County community of Reedtown.
    • Ohio
      • Seneca County
      • This Reedtown is located in Seneca County and lies 531 miles [854.6 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Reedtown that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Seneca County community of Reedtown.
    • Tennessee
      • Cocke 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 Tennessee community of Reedtown [Cocke County].
    • Virginia
      • Northampton County
      • This Reedtown is located in Northampton County and lies 689 miles [1,108.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Reedtown that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Northampton County community of Reedtown.
      • Virginia Beach City
      • This Reedtown is located in Virginia Beach City and lies 671 miles [1,079.9 km] to the east northeast of the Reedtown that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Virginia Beach City community of Reedtown.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Reedtown ...

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.

  • Churntown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Churntown is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Churntown
  • Crooked Oak
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Crooked Oak is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crooked Oak
  • Good Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Good Springs is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Springs
  • Gravel Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Gravel Hill is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gravel Hill
  • Lime Rock
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Lime Rock is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lime Rock
  • Littleville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Littleville is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littleville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 992 people
  • Mountain Star
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Mountain Star is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Star
  • Pleasant Ridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Pleasant Ridge is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
  • Rockwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Rockwood is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockwood
  • Sand Lick ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Sand Lick is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Lick
  • Spruce Pine
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Spruce Pine is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spruce Pine
  • Waco
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Waco is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waco
  • Woodlawn Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Woodlawn Heights is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn Heights

How Far From Reedtown to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Reedtown to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Russellville, which is the Seat of Franklin County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 168 miles [270.4 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Reedtown to Montgomery, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 665 miles [1,070.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). 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 6,543 miles [10,529.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,258 miles [11,680.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,134 miles [8,262.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Reedtown) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Reedtown 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 Reedtown 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 Reedtown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.4968, Longitude: -87.7417       In this case, the coordinates for Reedtown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.307 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.151 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.473 degrees.