RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Pike County >> River Ridge >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in River Ridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to River Ridge 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 River Ridge:
    • 31.825711, -86.022175
    • 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 River Ridge
  • 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 Pike County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pike County
    • Since River Ridge is near Crenshaw County and also Montgomery County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Crenshaw County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery 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 River Ridge

Communities Also Named River Ridge ...

We found seven communities that are also named River Ridge.

There is one other community in Alabama that is also named River Ridge.

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

  • Communities Located In Alabama ...
    • Monroe County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Alabama community of River Ridge [Monroe County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Floyd County
      • This River Ridge is located in Floyd County and lies 172 miles [276.8 km]<2> to the north northeast of the River Ridge that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Floyd County community of River Ridge.
    • Illinois
      • Kendall County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of River Ridge [Kendall County].
    • Indiana
      • Clark County
      • This River Ridge is located in Clark County and lies 452 miles [727.4 km]<2> to the north of the River Ridge that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clark County community of River Ridge.
    • Kentucky
      • Harlan County
      • This River Ridge is located in Harlan County and lies 384 miles [618 km]<2> to the north northeast of the River Ridge that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harlan County community of River Ridge.
    • Louisiana
      • Jefferson Parish
      • This River Ridge is located in Jefferson Parish and lies 279 miles [449 km]<2> to the west southwest of the River Ridge that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson Parish community of River Ridge.
    • Utah
      • Salt Lake County
      • This River Ridge is located in Salt Lake County and lies 1,557 miles [2,505.7 km]<2> to the west northwest of the River Ridge that is located in Pike County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Salt Lake County community of River Ridge.

Curious and Interesting Names Near River Ridge ...

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.

  • Allred
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Allred is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allred
  • College Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • College Park is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Park
  • Forest Circle
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Forest Circle is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Circle
  • Friendship
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Friendship is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship
  • Good Hope
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Good Hope is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Hope
  • Green Oaks
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Green Oaks is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Oaks
  • Heritage Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Heritage Ridge is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Ridge
  • Lees Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Lees Park is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees Park
  • Meadow Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Meadow Grove is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Grove
  • Mountainbrook
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Mountainbrook is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountainbrook
  • Shellhorn
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Shellhorn is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shellhorn
  • Trojan Terrace
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Trojan Terrace is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trojan Terrace
  • Youngblood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Youngblood is located in Pike County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Youngblood

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

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

  • Troy, which is the Seat of Pike County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 41 miles [66 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from River Ridge to Montgomery, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 702 miles [1,129.8 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 40 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,599 miles [10,620.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,298 miles [11,745 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,178 miles [8,333.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 River Ridge, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>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- River Ridge) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 River Ridge 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.
<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 River Ridge 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 River Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.8257, Longitude: -86.0222       In this case, the coordinates for River Ridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.101 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.389 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.345 degrees.