RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Jefferson County >> Riverside Estates >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Riverside Estates, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Riverside Estates 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 Riverside Estates:
    • 33.643995, -87.062498
    • 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 Riverside Estates
  • 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Riverside Estates is near Walker County and also Blount County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Walker County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Blount 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 Riverside Estates

Communities Also Named Riverside Estates ...

We found eight communities that are also named Riverside Estates.

Within Alabama, the name Riverside Estates is unique.

Beyond Alabama, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, seven are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Riverside Estates is located in Hillsborough County and lies 475 miles [764.4 km]<1> to the southeast of the Riverside Estates that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Riverside Estates.
    • Georgia
      • Newton County
      • This Riverside Estates is located in Newton County and lies 181 miles [291.3 km]<1> to the east of the Riverside Estates that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Newton County community of Riverside Estates.
    • Maryland
      • Howard County
      • This Riverside Estates is located in Howard County and lies 681 miles [1,096 km]<1> to the northeast of the Riverside Estates that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Howard County community of Riverside Estates.
    • North Carolina
      • Transylvania County
      • This Riverside Estates is located in Transylvania County and lies 268 miles [431.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Riverside Estates that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Transylvania County community of Riverside Estates.
    • Saskatchewan
      • 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 Saskatchewan community of Riverside Estates.
    • Texas
      • Hidalgo County
      • This Riverside Estates is located in Hidalgo County and lies 849 miles [1,366.3 km]<1> to the southwest of the Riverside Estates that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hidalgo County community of Riverside Estates.
    • Virginia
      • Fairfax County
      • This Riverside Estates is located in Fairfax County and lies 656 miles [1,055.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Riverside Estates that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfax County community of Riverside Estates.
      • Roanoke County
      • This Riverside Estates is located in Roanoke County and lies 464 miles [746.7 km] to the northeast of the Riverside Estates that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke County community of Riverside Estates.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Riverside Estates ...

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.

  • Bryan
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Bryan is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bryan
  • Flat Creek
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Flat Creek is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Creek
  • Flat Top
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Flat Top is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Top
  • Glover Ferry
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Glover Ferry is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glover Ferry
  • Littleton
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Littleton is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littleton
  • Littleton Ferry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Littleton Ferry is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littleton Ferry
  • Media
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Media is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Media
  • Reeds Ferry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Reeds Ferry is located in Walker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reeds Ferry
  • Shady Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Shady Grove is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
  • Snowtown
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Snowtown is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snowtown
  • Williams Ferry
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Williams Ferry is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams Ferry

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

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

  • Birmingham, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Riverside Estates to Birmingham, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 97 miles [156.1 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 665 miles [1,070.2 km] to the northeast (NE). 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 6,556 miles [10,550.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,266 miles [11,693.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,142 miles [8,275.2 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- Riverside Estates) 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 Riverside Estates 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 Riverside Estates 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 Riverside Estates. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.6440, Longitude: -87.0625       In this case, the coordinates for Riverside Estates have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.841 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.495 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.375 degrees.