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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rock Ridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rock 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 Rock Ridge:
    • 33.550040, -86.652894
    • 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 Rock 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Rock Ridge is near Blount County and also Saint Clair County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Blount County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Clair 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 Rock Ridge

Communities Also Named Rock Ridge ...

We found five communities that are also named Rock Ridge.

Within Alabama, the name Rock Ridge is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Douglas County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Rock Ridge [Douglas County].
    • Connecticut
      • Fairfield County
      • This Rock Ridge is located in Fairfield County and lies 880 miles [1,416.2 km]<2> to the northeast of the Rock Ridge that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfield County community of Rock Ridge.
    • Florida
      • Polk County
      • This Rock Ridge is located in Polk County and lies 457 miles [735.5 km]<2> to the southeast of the Rock Ridge that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Polk County community of Rock Ridge.
    • Manitoba
      • This Rock Ridge lies 1,422 miles [2,288.5 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Rock Ridge that is located in Jefferson County.
    • North Carolina
      • Wilson County
      • This Rock Ridge is located in Wilson County and lies 509 miles [819.2 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Rock Ridge that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wilson County community of Rock Ridge.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rock 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.

  • Battleground
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Battleground is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Battleground
  • Cherokee Bend
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Cherokee Bend is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee Bend
  • Five Points East
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Five Points East is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points East
  • Holiday Gardens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Holiday Gardens is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Gardens
  • Hunters Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Hunters Hill is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Hill
  • Irondale
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Liberty Highlands
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Liberty Highlands is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Highlands
  • Moore Corner
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Moore Corner is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moore Corner
  • Mountain Forest
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Mountain Forest is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Forest
  • Queenstown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Queenstown is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queenstown
  • Rose Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Rose Hill is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Hill
  • Saddlebrook
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Saddlebrook is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saddlebrook

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

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

  • Birmingham, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies just to the West.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 83 miles [133.6 km]<2> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Rock Ridge to Montgomery, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 650 miles [1,046.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,544 miles [10,531.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,252 miles [11,671 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,129 miles [8,254.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Rock 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Rock Ridge) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Rock 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 Rock Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.5500, Longitude: -86.6529       In this case, the coordinates for Rock Ridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.589 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.19 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.23 degrees.